The Spirit Rasengan
by vbarreiro
Summary: No longer remembering who he is and pulled away from his world for reasons unknown, Naruto is placed in the world of Date a Live, in the place of Shido. Everything goes the way it's supposed to... Until suddenly it doesn't. Rated M for suggestive themes, and slight cursing. No bashing whatsoever. Possible pairings. No OC. Edit: Sorry for the hiatus, will be back soon!
1. Vol 1: Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters seen here, and do not own either the original series (Naruto and Date a Live). I do, however, own my work, so if you are going to post it elsewhere, please ask me for permission first.**

**Hey everybody! I recently watched Date a Live, and just couldn't get enough of it! After a (frustrating) while I spent trying to get the original light novels in English, I suddenly had an idea of how awesome Naruto would look while fighting in this kind of situations! And so, the idea was born! I just hope that everybody that comes in here enjoys my work, although I know that inevitably some will not, but whatever the case, I would like to thank you for your time! Oh, and btw, knowledge of both series is not required but suggested. Well, without further ado, let us sink into Chapter 1!**

**Edit: Some people helped me find the original light novels. Thanks Strife666, Redmoon2 and Ken Lim!**

* * *

**Chapter 1:**

My memories from before that time were hazy. I didn't know much about myself. In fact, I didn't know much about anything. I had vague memories of a different world, but the things that came to me were too far fetched. A village, with four faces sculpted on a mountain nearby. A man with a lot of white hair often came up in my head. I don't know why, but whenever I thought about his face, I became sad. I remembered facing an opponent that nobody could have ever defeated. Strangely enough, I also remembered his name.

_Obito_.

I don't know why I keep getting these flashbacks, but it must be some sorta sick joke! Every single time I had a friggin' foggy flashback, I saw the impossible, only to forget it a few minutes after. I kept a journal of the things I saw, but I was afraid to read it. On the cover, I had seven characters in japanese. They read: Uzumaki Naruto. Yeah, that's my name, believe it!

A little girl with long, pink pigtails held tight by a white ribbon appeared at the door.  
"Big brother! You'll be late for school again!" she said. Well, she didn't just say it, she jumped into an air-kick position, and prepared to deliver a meteor blow. Something inside me awoke, and single-handedly blocked her kick, her second attempt at one, and placed her in a friendly headlock. If I had come to accept one thing of this new life, was that this girl was my cute little sister.

"Hey! Kotori! You should really knock that off! Every morning is the same thing! Can't a guy get some sleep around here?"

"Sorry Big brother! I promise not to do it again." she said with a face that was incredibly cute. Damn, it was hard to be mad at her!

"Don't worry about it. Go get ready, I'll make you breakfast." I said with a sigh, although I was in fact quite eager to do it. I didn't know why, but the concept of a family excited me.

I made her some nice, warm ramen, because a meal is not a meal without ramen! As I got the broth just right, I thought about the time I had spent here. I had been here for six months already, and so much had happened since then! The weirdest part was that everyone knew me, by my name. I realized that I had friends who I had never seen before, and a sister. In the beginning, I had assumed they had been there all my life, but a month ago... well, the visions started. They made me uneasy, although I couldn't tell anyone about it.

"_Cute little sister kick!_" I heard behind me, and sure enough, a cute little sister's foot was almost at my face, but I reacted in time and avoided it. It was too close for comfort, though.

"What's on the menu, big brother?" Kotori asked.

"World Famous Ichiraku Ramen, piping hot!" I answered.

"Yuk, don't you have something else? And what is an Ichiraku anyways?"

"I'm not gonna keep cooking for you with that attitude, little miss! And I'll have you know, Ichiraku is the best, uh, the best..." My tone downgraded as I forgot what I was going to say.

"Anyways, what do _you_ want, of you're not gonna eat my ramen?"

"_A deluxe kid's meal!_"

"And you actually expecting me to make you that?"

"Of course not big brother! I expect you to take me to a restaurant where I can get one!"

"What? Are you serious? You little..." I started, but then, she put on her cutest smile.

"No. Absolutely not! I'm not taking you to get a-"

_23 minutes later._

"_Deluxe kid's meal_! I'm getting a _Deluxe kid's meal_!" Kotori screamed excitedly. Yeah, she had gotten what she wanted. On the other hand, I needed to put up an anti-cuteness shield. She was just too good at manipulating me.

"What are you even excited about? I'm sure it pales in comparison to my delicious ramen!" I said playfully.

"Yeah, yeah, your ramen. Look, we're here!"

We were at the restaurant I was supposed to take her to.

"Okay, be good!" I said. "I have school right now, but I'll come to pick you up after third period, got it?"

Okay, big brother, but you have to be here! Even if terrorists attack! Even if there's a spacequake! Promise me!"

"Of course I'll be here, believe it!" I said, as she disappeared into the restaurant.  
That was another thing about this new life. There was a kind natural disaster that I had never heard about before. The spacequake. The phenomenon had started around thirty years ago, and to this day there was still no explanation behind what caused them. The only thing that we knew about them was their black-explosion-like shape and the massive amount of destruction they left behind. I really hoped I didn't have to come pick Kotori up during one.

As I pondered this, a vision came up, stopping me in my tracks. I saw a man in a black robe with red clouds. He had orange hair and completely purple eyes, and he was making a field around himself that looked a lot like a transparent spacequake, but not quite.

As the vision ended, I cursed myself. It was the fifth one this week. Then, someone else came into view. A girl dressed in my school's uniform, with silver-white hair, was looking my way. I didn't know her, or why she was staring at me like that, but I paid it no mind and kept going towards my school. Today was going to be a great day, believe it!

* * *

As I got to class, I was stopped by the same girl I had seen before. Her hair, which looked like it was made of a straight white metal, was one of her more defining features. It was far from being her only good one, though. Her face was a few levels beyond cute, and she had an amazing body. She looked like a prettier, white-haired version of... dang it, I forget who it was. Anyhow, this girl was in my way, and I had to get to my seat, so I started going around her.

"Uzumaki Naruto." she said in monotone.

Huh? Me?" I asked. "Do we know each other?"

"Ah. You do not remember?" she asked without changing her tone, and went to her seat. Talk about confusing!

"Hey man!" I heard behind me. I knew who it was. Tonomachi, a guy who was supposed to be my friend ever since I got here, but I found that hard to believe. He looked like he was after something every time we came near and I was sure as hell not giving it to him!

I also knew that Tonomachi was right about to kick me, but I intercepted his kick with one of my own. For some reason, I was good at martial arts like that.

"Bro, where do you know Tobiichi Origami from?" he asked flustered.

"Don't know but, hey! Back off a few inches, will ya!" I snapped when he invaded my comfort zone.

"Sorry, it's just that, well, she's a supergenius! She's got perfect grades, even in P.E., in fact she ties with you in top of the class in that subject, and she's so pretty! She has always been on the top three girls I want to date!"

Yeah, right. Top three _girls_ he wanted to date my ass!

I looked at her. She was on the desk right next to mine, but if she heard anything Tonomachi said, she didn't show it. I continued staring at her like an idiot, as if that would have solved the riddle, and I almost didn't notice when our teacher showed up to begin class.

"Hello everybody! My name is Okamine Tamae! I'll be your homeroom teacher for this-" the teacher said, but she went on and on talking, so I lost interest. I got the strange feeling that I had never been a good student at school anyway, so I looked away, and found the girl called Tobiichi looking my way. She did not look happy or sad, just... looking.

"I- Is something the matter?" I asked. She was starting to creep me out just a little. Not that I had the right to say anything. I had been doing the same seconds earlier.

"No." she replied in monotone. In fact, I'm gonna stop saying "monotone", because almost everything she said after that had no distinguishable tone, save for very rare occasions.

When class was done, Tonomachi got in my way, a lot closer than I would prefer.

"You got any plans today?" He asked, which left it clear that there was a probable double meaning in that.

"Yeah, I-I'm going to pick up Kotori at a restaurant."

"Oh." he said, looking disappointed. "Hey, isn't she your sister? Well, you know, maybe after that, you and I could-"

Then, the spacequake alarm sounded. Saved by the bell! We got in line in order to go to the shelters, and I noticed Tobiichi running ahead of the class. We were almost at the shelter, when I heard a deep voice. I had never heard a voice so deep, but it sounded somehow... familiar. Besides, I know what I'm about to say is weird, but it sounded like the voice was coming from _inside_ me.

"**Do you know where the small girl is?**" The voice said. Suddenly. I remembered that I had promised to pick Kotori up, even if there was a spacequake. But surely she had taken refuge. Even I wasn't so reckless as to... come think of it, maybe I was reckless enough to stay in place during a lethal event in order to keep a promise. Besides, I would be there. I had never backed on my word, and I wouldn't start now. I took out a small device from my pocket, a cell phone, and checked the gps to see where she was.

She was at the restaurant entrance.

Instantly, I ran out of the building and into the street. I was running so fast, that for a few seconds I saw red. I mean, literally everything turned red, and when it did, I swear I became several times faster. I got to the restaurant faster than expected, and started looking for my little sister.

"Kotori!" I screamed, but she was not there. I checked my gps. I was fairly knew to this technology, but I was pretty sure that it said that we were in the same place.

So where was she?

Then, I heard a bellowing Boom!, and a second later, I was covered in blackness. The spacequake was happening.

And it was happening around me.

* * *

**Author's notes: So, what do you guys think? I know so far it's just like Date a Live, but trust me, it gets original soon. I'm keeping the Tohka's name, though. It's just too cool a name! And also, I don't speak japanese, so I won't pretend I do by adding words like Onee-chan, Kami or Kawaii whose grammatical usage I'm not familiar with.**


	2. Vol 1: Chapter 2

**Hey guys! It's me again! I wanted to thank you all for your suppot that kept me glued to the computer screen, making me want to write more! In fact, I finished this chapter a lot before expected, so here you go guys!**

**On a different note, I decided to keep the jutsus in japanese, since only Naruto jutsus will appear (for now), and I'm assuming most of you know these (i.e. Rasengan, Bijuu-Dama, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu), but what do you guys think?**

**Also, as always, please tell me what you think! I'll be waiting!**

* * *

Chapter 2:

I was enveloped in blackness, but it wasn't touching me. I was surrounded instead by a transparent red liquid, but in a matter of microseconds both the spacequake and the red liquid were gone. The building I had been inside no longer existed. I was in an open field, a shallow crater. There was flattened rubble all around me. Not far from where I was, in the very center of the crater, there was a girl in blue battle armor. As I neared her, I noticed that her armor was made from something that resembled metal, but at the same time cloth. I guess the only way to describe her was as violently beautiful. She looked at me.

"Are you here to kill me as well?" she asked, eyes full of sorrow. As I held her gaze, I understood that this girl was no different from me. I didn't know how or why, but I felt like I knew her pain.

"N-no! Why would I come to kill you?" I asked

She pointed a giant sword at my neck.

"You're the one who knows!" she said.

"I don't even know your name, and you already think I want to kill you? Lady, I'm sorry but you've got the wrong guy!"

"Name?" she asked, repeating my word. She looked for a second like she had lost to her own sanity, that she was desperately looking for something... that was never there to begin with. With all the times I had struggled to remember things, I had probably looked like that quite a few times in the last six months.

"A name? I don't have anything like that." she finally said.

Then, a bunch of flying, armored soldiers, all of them female, appeared. They instantly started shooting missiles. Even though I had never seen anything like a missile in this world, I had the feeling that I had somewhere before. I knew they were trouble.

I didn't know why I did what I did, or how I knew it would work, but I placed both of my index and middle fingers together, and made a cross symbol with them.

"_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_!" I screamed. Instantly, two guys identical to me appeared at my sides, wearing the same school uniform as I was. Not having time to be surprised, I nodded at them and they ran forward, each kicking a missile into the others, exploding them all, but dissipating themselves. That gave us a chance to run.

I grabbed the armored woman by the hand, and started to take her away. Life lesson, whenever people think you are trying to kill them, don't take them by the hand and run. Blue force fields will send you to the Kingdom Come and back if you do. And trust me, you don't want that.

I got up, and tried again. Somehow, I did not feel hurt after a few seconds. I got close to her, careful to avoid contact.

"Listen lady, I don't know who the heck you are, if you don't come with me you will probably die!"

"Is that your trick to lure me into a trap? I will stay here." she said.

"What? No! I will not-" I started.

There was an explosion beneath my feet. I knew I could have seen it coming, but I had been too busy trying to save the girl. I flew quite a distance, and crashed into one of the flying armored soldiers. We both tumbled to the ground, and I managed to catch her face just before I passed out. I was laying, face to face, with Tobiichi Origami.

* * *

When I woke up, there was a weird lady next to me. She had iron gray hair, and looked kind of crazy. She also had bags under her eyes, that made her look like she had been up since my last haircut. In other words, a loooong time. I sat upright.

"Who are you?" I asked. Before she could answer, I remembered something. I stood up, and walked up to the lady.

"Where is my sister? Where is Kotori?"

"Do not worry. And my name is Murasame Reine. You are on the sickbay of the Fraxinus, Your sister is exceptionally well at the time."

"What"

"As I said, you need not-"

"Take me to her!" I exclaimed.

And so, the weird looking lady took me though a series of corridors. After a small while, we pulled to a stop at a large room. Inside, I was greeted by a blonde man. For some reason, he reminded me of the white-haired guy who I had seen in my visions.

"Vice Commander Kanazuki, pleased to make your acquaintance." he said as he offered his hand to shake, but I didn't take it. If my gut feeling was right, I didn't want to touch his hand, _ever_. He looked unfazed, but he went to a giant chair in the middle of the room, the owner of which was hidden from me.

"Commander. He is awake and _very_ rude."

Instantly, the chair turned, revealing a young lady with cute pink pigtails.

"Kotori! You're okay!" I said. I flung myself to her, to find a foot inch-deep sunken into my face.

"This is not the time to get al smoochy with the commander, Naruto."

"Naruto? But you never call me by my name!"

"Ah, never mind that, Naruto. You got yourself into quite a bit of a mess with the AST, or Anti Spirit Team. You would have died several times out there had we not recovered you, but I will give you this: you _did_ manage to hold out for longer than I expected, and I never expected to have to deal with more than one of you at a time. Yes, we filmed the whole thing, in case you're wondering."

"More than one of me at a time?" I asked, and suddenly I remembered. "That's right, I split in three!"

"You've seriously got to be the slowest older brother there is. Yes, you multiplied, although I can't well explain how. Besides, you coordinated a would-be suicidal attack with them in a matter of seconds." she said thoughtfully. I was actually starting to enjoy her remarks, but she quickly caught on to that.

"N-not that it matters." she said. "Anyway, when you were in the field, did you meet this person?"

For the first time, I noticed a humongous monitor in front of us. In the screen, there was a lady, with mystifying wavy black hair, a ribbon above her head, and a blazing blue suit of armor. Above all, there were the eyes. It was a sad gaze that, once met, could never be forgotten. It was footage of me standing in front of the girl from before.

"Yeah. Why was she being attacked?"

"Because she's a spirit. The phenomenon you know as "spacequake" is in fact the apparition of a spirit in our world, which happens regardless of their will. While this one was a fairly tiny one, a large one could flatten a continent." By the way, our footage shows you going into a building, and appearing unharmed afterwards, even though the spacequacke destroyed the building. How is that possible? And why where you in there, anyways?

"I was all kinds of worried about you! I also promised to come back for you, and you know I never back on my word, because that's my ninja way!"

I had absolutely no idea why I had said that last part, but I felt like an idiot for saying it. Sure enough, Kotori started laughing her ass off.

"Naruto the Ninja! Now _that's_ funny! And just how stupid do you think your little sister is? Staying behind in a spacequake to keep a promise? Hahaha!"

Without missing a beat, I pulled my iPhone from my pocket, inserted the password, and showed her the screen. It was still on the GPS from before. My sister looked at me with a look that said Oops, but she regained composure and retorted.

"You probably thought that I was trapped inside. How naïve you are, Naruto. I guess it will be quicker if I showed you. Reine! Turn filtration off!"

In a moment the floor turned to glass, and I discovered that we were above the clouds.

"Welcome to Airship Fraxinus!" she said excited. She let me stare in wonder at the floor for a few moments, until she spoke again.

"Now, on to serious matters. The AST's job is to take Spirits like the one you saw out of commission, so that they can't continue to decimate cities."

"But wait, isn't there another way?" I asked, before I even knew what was going on.

"She almost got you killed, twice. Don't tell me you _fell_ for her?"

"No but, that pain, the pain of being alone, I'm not completely sure I do, but I think I get it. It was not something I could put in words, but I understood her pain. As I understood her pain, I understood her, and nobody like her could be evil. Nobody with eyes like that could ever be."

Now she looked visibly shaken.

"When have you experienced-?" she started, but stopped. "Anyhow, there is another way."

"You show them how beautiful the world is! And what is the most beautiful thing in the world? Love!"

"So, are you suggesting that I-?

"Make them fall in love!"

"Yeah, I'm not sure I'm following you here."

"They say that everything is better once you're in love, so show them the best of the world!"

"I'm still not sure if I get it."

"Look, dummy ninja, we have two choices. Either she falls in love, or she dies. End of discussion. Your pick?

"Fine, I'll help you"

"Yaay! Your training begins tomorrow!"

"T-training?" I asked, but the second I said it, I relaxed, like that word fit in my mouth. "Yeah. Training."

* * *

"Come." I heard someone say. It was Tobiichi. Good. I had planned to approach her, but the other way around was okay too.

"Hey, about what I saw-"

"You saw nothing."

"Yeah, expected as much. But I wanted to ask you something. Why would you try to kill that girl? I could tell she wasn't evil."  
"I do not want anyone to have to feel the way I did."

"Huh? What happened?"

"Five years ago, I lost both my parents to a spirit."

I stared at her, dumbfounded. She left after a second. I heard a grumble coming from my stomach, only that I wasn't hungry. And it didn't sound like a hunger-grumble. It sounded like a wild beast, preparing to roar.


	3. Vol 1: Chapter 3

**Hey everybody! I'm back with another update! This is where the story starts to deviate from the original, sinking deeper into different plots. I hope you enjoy!**

**Also, I want you all to know, your comments and reviews ****_are_**** being listened to, but I wanted to apologise to the people who I can't please with my story, since there are just some things I just can't change without removing some foreshadowing and/or other stuff I need to keep Naruto in character (i.e. someone had trouble with me using the ninja way and the Believe it! phrase). **

**On a slightly different note, I am NOT finished with this chapter (Edit: I am now), but I will tone it down a bit, since this is my third in the last two days, so I will take a little rest, but I still wanted to give you guys a little something before leaving for a while. I will also be editting some other things on the earlier chapters (i.e. Tobiichi's name, that was a result of a confusion in my source material)**

* * *

When I discovered what the so-called "training" was like, I ran. I ran for my life. These people were _crazy_! Of course, they tried to threaten me out of it by showing embarrassing stuff I had hand-made... except it was from the time before my arrival, so I didn't care. If anybody found out about those things, I would pledge for ignorance. Once she saw that she didn't have too much hope of stopping me, she at least made me promise to take an earpiece, so that she could tell me how to "work in the field." She promised to watch me constantly, thanks to microscopic video cameras, and sent me off.

"Well, if you aren't gonna be trained by us, then you can take on some real girls. Just try to get a date before the next spacequake, will you?" Kotori had said.

Now, how was I supposed to do that? I was sure I had never been a ladies' man. I tried to remember if there was any dating in my past. but the images I came up with were of a pink-haired pretty girl crying her eyes out and a dark-haired sadistic version of me taking off a mask.

I must have sucked at dating.

I was having a healthy amount of running while I was lost in thought, and suddenly it became clear why this was a mistake. I never noticed when I knocked down someone, and when I got up, it turned out to be Tobiichi. I barely had any time to see her, when my earpiece started screaming.

"What are you waiting for! Ask her out! Since you rejected our training, then what better way to get comfortable around girls than by going out with the AST genius?" I heard Kotori's voice say.

I nodded, but didn't answer her. I had used an earpiece before (don't ask me when) and I knew that people around me could still hear me.

"Hey, Tobiichi, just wanted to make sure things wouldn't get weird between us, because you know I saw you in your battle-armor-thingy and..."

"They won't." she replied.

"Oh, good." I said. Then, I decided to get this over with. "Hey Tobiichi, will you go out with me?"

"Yes."

"Oh well, I didn't expect you to- wait, did you say yes?"

"Yes."

"So, are you thinking the romantic kind, or are you just walking home with me?"

"Romantic type."

"S-seriously? W-well, should we meet at your place or my place?"

"Your place" she answered again. What was with these short answers anyway?

"Okay, see ya there!"

"See you later."

I got a safe distance away, and looked at the small camera hovering in the air.

"So, how did I do, for my first time?"

"Honestly, I've no idea what happened." answered a confused-sounding Kotori.

"Anyway, I have to get to class." I said. Or maybe... an idea began to from in my head. I started running full speed until I reached the bathroom. As I expected, the camera didn't follow me there. After a few minutes, I came out. Except, that it wasn't really me. It was a clone. He would get me through school today, because there was something else I needed to do. When I was sure that the clone was clear, I came out and ran the other way. When I was done running, I was at the school's rooftop.

The perfect place to train.

Ever since Kotori mentioned that word to me, something had appeared inside me. Rather, it was something that felt like it had always been there with me: a burning desire to improve myself. I did the same cross sign with my hand and two more of me appeared. I wanted to test out something. I set one clone aside, and threw a punch at the other one. He countered seamlessly. And I countered his counter. We fought for at least an hour, switching between clones, before it became clear to me. There was no way that those moves, imprinted in my muscles, were instinct. They had to be something else. If only I could remember a little more... or wait, could I? There was one way, but I had never once considered it before. Of course, I had never become a four man squad, so all in all it was fair. I headed down, and ran towards my house. There were answers to be found there.

* * *

When I got to my room, I yanked my bedstead drawer so hard, I nearly pulled it off its hinges, but that was irrelevant. I took out a notebook, whose cover read Uzumaki Naruto. I always forgot most things I saw in visions, so I had to write them down, or else I wouldn't ever be able to remember.

I opened the book before me. The page I opened it to had a drawing of a blue ball, with a spiral design in the middle. Man, I sucked at drawing!

Beside the ball, there was a small list.

**1. Rotate  
2. Empower  
3. Contain**

For weird that it seems, that felt familiar. Not only that, but I felt like I knew what each part meant. I was about to try something, when I heard the door to my room open.

"Aha!" said a triumphant, playful looking Kotori. "I saw you multiply, did you think I wouldn't send multiple cameras after you?"

I had to admit, she had a point.

"And just what is this over here? Oooh, does Big Brother have a diary? Here, let me see!" she said, as she tried to take it away from me. Normally, I would have been able to fend her off, quick and easy, but I had been fighting and running nonstop for a while now, and I needed rest, so she managed o grab one end. We pulled against each other, until the logical thing happened: the book broke, with such force that the binding was cut loose and little pieces of paper were flying everywhere.

"Hey! What's the big idea Kotori!"

She looked at me, eyes full of tears. "Sorry big brother"

I hated how I couldn't be mad at her when she made that face.

"Don't worry. It's okay, but you can't touch my stuff without permission from now on, got it?"

"O-okay big brother." She said. I placed a hand over her head, stroking the white ribbons that held her hair in place, and consoled her.

Afterwards, I tried to get my notebook back together, but it was nothing short of impossible. All of the hand-drawn faces were ripped apart, and any top could belong to any bottom. As for the written things, mostly I could understand a few meanings, but since I wrote from top to bottom, I could only get half-lines.

After a frustrating while, I just threw the pile of paper into the drawer, and fell asleep from exhaustion.

* * *

_As Naruto slept, a figure crept inside his room. He was looking for something. Finally, he found it in one of the drawers. Naruto's memories. As long as he didn't see these often, Naruto would keep forgetting who he was. The chakra he had implanted in Naruto would make sure of it._

_The lone figure walked the halls of Naruto's new home. He had the decency to go into the little girl's room and release her from the controlling genjutsu. "Let him have a family." He thought to himself. He would take that away eventually. But the time hadn't come yet. He still wasn't strong enough. He had to be at full power before carrying out his plans. As he walked to the street, he dropped all the pieces of paper on the pavement. He walked a few feet away, and faced them. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu." He said as he performed the necessary hand seals. A giant fireball engulfed the streets, erasing all record of Naruto's earlier life._

_Meanwhile, Naruto was dreaming of ramen with Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke, a dream of course, that would evaporate long before he could wake up._

* * *

"Good Morning." Someone said.

"Good morning Kotori" I said before opening my eyes. "Hey, sorry for getting mad at- hey! You're not Kotori!"

"Indeed." Tobiichi Origami said. She was laying next to me on my bed, on top of the covers. I was taken aback so much, I fell off the bed. "You told me to meet you here."

"W-well, yeah, but not here and now! Especially not here, in my friggin bed!"

"Is it a problem?"

"Well, kind of, yeah. Besides we have school right now, why would you come at this time?"

She raised two fingers.

"Do the multiplication thing."

"What?" I asked. I hoped that didn't mean what I thought it meant.

"The multiplication thing. There were many of you before."

"Oh. So you saw that. Okay, here goes! _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_!"

Another me appeared instantly with a cloud of smoke.

"One of you goes to school. I keep the other one. I can afford to miss classes."

The clone actually looked relieved. He was almost at the door, but I cut in front of him and left. No matter how pretty or perfect, this girl had invaded my bed!

"Hey!" the other handsome guy screamed, but I was already halfway to school.

"What the heck are you doing here!" I asked. Murasame Reine, the beautiful crazy-looking woman from the other day was in front of me. "I have come to assist you in your training. By this point do you not agree of the need of it?"

I thought of what had happened with Tobiichi. "Yeah, I need a little bit of training. I didn't know girls were so unpredictible!"

"Yeah. Most of us... aren't... zzzz" she said. She had fallen asleep while standing. Wasn't that impossible in the first place?

"So yeah!" she continued, suddenly wide awake. "Since our relationship from this point forward will be a business one, I will refer to you by your first name, to demonstrate our trust. Is that okay, Natsu?

"That's not even my name!"

"Very well then, Natsu, let us get to the training area. The commander is waiting for you, in the same place as yesterday."

Before I could answer, I heard a loud noise. I knew what it was. The spacequake alarm.

Even though it was a deadly event which would involve me trying to make a natural disaster fall in love, I kind of felt like I had been saved by the bell once again.

* * *

**Author's notes: Once again, I wanted to thank you all for the time you've given me, and for many of you, the time you took to write a review because, positive or negative, your review improved my story, if only a little. Thanks everybody!**

**Edit: I hope I got the spacequake timing right. It's kind of hard, because I still want to trigger the events in Date a Live, but I also want my story to feel fresh. **

**Also, any speculation on who the mysterious person might be?**


	4. Vol 1: Chapter 4

**Hey guys! Ready for some more more Spirit Rasengan? Just to be clear here, I posted last chapter as "Chapter 3.5" at first, because it was not done, but I found out that chapter names are not allowed to have decimal points, so that's why many of you got "Chapter 35" instead. On a side note, I'm kind of looking for someone who would be nice enough to make some fan art of Naruto in Shido's clothes, as a cover for the story.**

**Well, anyhow, Hobey-ho, let's go! (Whoever get's that reference gets a mention in next week's author notes)**

* * *

Chapter 4:

"You know what to do, Naruto. Actually, you _don't_ really know what to do, you skipped training, remember?" The earpiece said in Kotori's voice.

"I know, get in, take her out for lunch, no more spacequakes, happy ever after. Got it." I answered.

I started running towards... towards...

"Hey, where was she again?" I asked.

I heard Kotori facepalm. After a few seconds, she relayed the coordinates to me.

"You're lucky that's in your school. Better yet, it's indoors, so the AST won't interfere, since their weaponry is meant for outdoor use. You have her all to yourself."

"Got it." I said. I felt like I was on some sort of mission, and that brought a more professional side to me.

The day before, when practicing with the shadow clones, I had discovered a few techniques, like the _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_, that were imprinted in my body. One of the things I discovered was the chakra dash. I didn't know what that title meant, but now was not the time to think. Now was the time to _do_!

I chakra dashed into the room where the Spirit was, and saw her looking at the floor. The destruction was minimal, so I guessed the quake must have been a small one. She looked like she had already lost all will to live. Outside, the AST patiently waited for her. She looked like she was about to lash at them, full of sorrow, because there was just no other way.

"Don't." I said.

She turned around faster than I thought reasonably possible. "What?" she asked, as she pressed her sword to my neck. Here we go again.

"Their weapons only work outdoors. If you stay here you will be safe."

"Safe? Nowhere is safe from them. And you are one of them. You must be trying to keep me in place so that they can lock on to me. I will not stay here now."

"Wait!" I said. I was screwing up. I needed something to say...

* * *

Somewhere, a giant screen flashed three options; Three things Naruto could say. Kotori analyzed them carefully. There had to be a right answer. The options were:

-I need you! Stay with me!  
-Fine, go outside and get a thousand holes in you. It's not like I care.  
-Thy beauty paleth to none. I devote my life to thee.

The first seemed correct, but it sounded insincere. The third was the right meaning, but the wrong way of saying it. Which left...

"Naruto, say this! 'Fine, go...'"

* * *

"No." I said. I couldn't say something as mean to this person. Fortunately, the time it took Kotori to find the answer was the exact same amount of time it took me to find a better one.

"What if I could prove that if you go out, you will die?" I asked.

"And how would you do that?" she asked.

"Like this."

I made a hand seal to switch to create a clone. The girl was shocked. "Multiplying. Are you the human from that time?" she asked dumbfounded.

Then, I let the clone made another seal. "_Henge no Jutsu_!" my clone said. For some reason, this technique had been the easiest to remember through instinct. Must have been some good memories related to it!

My clone disappeared in a puff of smoke, and in his place was an exact replica of the girl.

"This is what will happen to you if you exit." my transformed clone said. Then, he (she?) jumped out of a hole that had been opened by the small spacequake. Instantly, a barrage of missiles and bullets made it disappear in a white cloud.

"You see? _That_ would've happened. Now come with me. We're getting you out of sight."

I signaled for her to follow me and started to leave, but she didn't budge. Of course, I realized I was an idiot. I had literally shown her death, even if it really wasn't the case.

"I-I-I died. That was me. I am dead." she stuttered in shock.

"No you aren't! But you will be if you don't come with me."

I grabbed her by the hand. I felt a repulsive field forming, but not nearly as strong as it had been before. Maybe she was starting to trust me? I dragged her on until we got to a room that had no connection to the outside, not even a window. Once there, I tried to het her to calm down.

"You are safe now. Those people will never come hurt you here."

I could still see unease in her eyes.

"You aren't dead."

"How would you know that?" she asked, sobbing.

"Because, well, I'm sorry, but I'm the one who showed you that so that you would come with me."

Her eyes turned to daggers.

"So you _are_ trying to kill me! Luring me to your secret weapon! I knew I shouldn't have trusted humans."

"Before she could leave, I grabbed her by the arm."

"Don't you see? I just saved your life! You were already in danger there! Why would I take you away from there if I wanted to kill you?"

I saw the look in her eyes. The look of someone who has been treated like a monster, never knowing why. Somebody who has never seen loving eyes. A person who people tried to kill on a regular basis, just because they couldn't stand the thought of being in the same space as them. She was that kind of person.

"Why?" she asked. "Why would you betray your own kind and help me?"

I raised two fingers, in V sign.

"Two reasons. First, I am not betraying my kind, not every human is out to get you. Second..."

I paused for a second, scourging my memory to confirm the thought that I had in mind.

"Yes?" she asked, curious. She no longer looked like she was about to run off, which was a huge victory.

"I think it's because... you're the same as me."

"What? Are you a Spirit?"

"No, no. What I mean is, I understand your pain."

We solemnly held gazes for a moment. Then, it turned awkward.

"So, I don't think I caught your name before. What was it?"

"Huh? How do you catch a name? Maybe that's the reason I don't have one, I have never caught one."

"Uh, that's not how you get your name. It is given to you."

"Oh. Then, will you give me one?"

What? She was asking me to _name_ her? Yeah, ask that from a guy who forgot things so often, people often thought he was brain dead.

I heard the commotion happen through my earpiece. I overheard several name options, but none seemed to be even moderately good.

Then, time stopped. I mean, it literally stopped. Everything stopped moving, from from the clock on the wall to the girl herself. Then, I saw a man in a black cloak. He was wearing a mask, which was completely made of metallic silver, and had no design save for a symbol on the forehead. It seemed familiar, and resembled... a leaf. There were two clutters of extremely small holes where the eyes should be, so it was impossible to see what color the person's eyes were.

"Tohka" the person said.

"_Tohka_?" I repeated, only to find out time wasn't frozen anymore. She had heard the word I had said. I didn't know what it meant, and the guy who had said it had disappeared.

"Tohka! Thanks, that is a good name." she said.

"Y-yeah! Isn't it?"

"So, what is yours? Your name?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Naruto. That's a nice name too!"

I could see her smiling more and more, so I decided to make my move.

"Hey, listen, do you want to go out with me some day? Like, on a date?"

"Date? What's a date?"

I was about to explain it to her, but suddenly I was flooded with memories. Apparently, the clone I had sent with Tobiichi had dissipated. As it turns out, she was a pretty nice girl, once you got to know her and got past the whole bed-surprise thing. It was actually fun to hang around her, but she had left the instant the spacequake alarm sounded. Thinking on his own, my clone had decided to follow her, and when she met up with her team, he had used _Henge no Jutsu_ to transform into one of them. Of course, when they took flight, he wasn't able to follow, so he was eventually discovered and shot, but not before learning that they were planning to flatten half the building in order to get to Tohka, but they didn't care that they were spilling the beans next to my soon-to-be-dissipated clone. Dead men don't tell tales, after all!

At least, most don't.

"Tohka, there will be danger here soon. We have to go!"

"But you said we were safe here. Did you lie to me?"

"No, I never lied to you, but the people with the robot armor are trying to make it un-safe. We have to go, now!"

She didn't look like she wanted to go.

"Look, do you trust me, if only a little bit? Then leave. I can deal with them, easily. Just go!"

She looked uneasy for a second, and a bright purple light enveloped her. When it was gone, so was she.

And then, I felt a sharp pain on my back. Somebody had knocked me out. I could not see who, but I had one final thought before hitting the cold floor.

"At least Tohka's safe."

* * *

"The spirit energy is gone. We lost her again."

Tobiichi Origami was not surprised with the report. Spirits were_ very_ hard to kill, but she had a hunch. She walked past the now-disarmed cannon and walked into the school. She was sure she had seen somebody else in the building, even when the alarm was in full effect. As she walked room through room, she found one that had something in it. A blonde guy, fainted but breathing. It was Uzumaki Naruto.

Without as much as a word, she carried him in him shoulders and headed for her own home with him.

* * *

**So many questions presented by this chapter. Just who is this mysterious person? A foe? Or a friend? Or are there more than one? Or a single, unique entity? Is he (she?) from Date a Live? Or from Naruto? Why utter Tohka's name? I'll leave you to speculate. I, of course, know the answer to all of this, but of course I will not tell you directly! Muahaha!**

**I hope you don't mind that I didn't give much importance to the conquest team, but they don't really have much to do with my story at this point (other than Reine calling him Natsu), but they will probably (maybe) appear in the later chapters, don't worry!**

**To all the people who pointed out the times I had lost focus and made small mistakes, I have corrected most of the ones in earlier chapters, thanks guys!**

**Anyways, I thought about Naruto's personality, and I don't think he's be one to reject attention, so next chapter will be interesting to write. Stay tuned!**


	5. Vol 1: Chapter 5

**Hey everybody! Today, two important things happened! For one, today was the first time I wrote something while on a plane, which is very cool, and second, my story hit the thousand view mark! So to celebrate, I have decided to make this chapter a little longer than the rest, and also, as a special treat, I decided to include any ideas I might have scratched at some point in developement (Of course, the ones that I still have). You can find them in the bottom section!**

**Edit: I forgot to give a shout out to ken lim, who got my Pendragon by D.J. MacHale reference!**

* * *

Chapter 5:

A ray of dawn sun woke me up. I was in a comfortable bed, but somehow it didn't feel right.

"Where am I?" I asked myself, not expecting an answer.

"In my house." Answered Tobiichi unexpectedly.

"Gyah!" I shouted.

"Here. I made tea." she said, holding a cup to me.

I looked at the tea. It was an opaque, non-transparent red. I was about to make a joke about how it "was not my cup of tea", but I realized that it looked like Tobiichi had worked hard on it, and for any genius, that means it's great. For whatever reason, I used to think geniuses were mostly lazy or arrogant, but this girl had been neither so far.

I drank the tea, and was marveled at its taste. I had never tasted something similar.

"Do you like it?" she asked.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Special Origami mix. It includes strawberry, chocolate, apple, vanilla, honey, oats, soy milk, sugar..."

The mix went on for a little longer. I was extremely surprised that those things were a good combination for tea.

"Can I ask for something in return?" she asked.

"What? Well, sure!"

She got closer to me, until our faces were an inch away.

"Not that. Sorry." I said.

She got a little further away, but I could still feel the pressure of her beautiful face near mine.

"Then, could I ask another favor from you?"

"As long as it's not related to the previous favor you asked."

"It is not. Will you call me Origami?"

"What?"

"So far, you have only called my by my surname, Tobiichi. Please call me Origami from now on."

"Alright, I will call you Origami from now on. Is that okay?"

Origami almost looked like she smiled. Still, it was better than her usual expressionless face.

"Hey," I said. "You know, I'm feeling a lot better now. I think will be going home now, but thanks for everything!"

Then, I noticed my everyday clothes laying on top of the bedstand. I realized I wasn't wearing them, I was instead wearing my pajamas. That meant she had changed me, but that wasn't even the post disturbing part. I didn't carry my pajamas with me, in fact the only place I ever left them was under my pillow. As far as I knew, not even Kotori had any idea of where I kept them, so I guessed Origami had broken into my house, searched for them, and on top of that changed me into them. In other words, I had a sudden urge to get my clothes, and escape the heck out of there.

"Wait." she said. I froze. "Can you make a clone again?"

As creeped out as I was at the moment, I had seen what she and her friends could do, and I much preferred being on her good side, so I put my hands together and summoned a single shadow clone. I said goodbye, and left my clone with her. I chakra dashed home as fast as I could, I needed a shower, a bed, a room to change into my clothes into, some rest and, above all, I needed that to happen in my own home.

* * *

I felt like a new man. I had showered, gotten into fresh clothes, and sent a shadow clone to do my chores while I rested. Now, I really needed to get some beauty sleep, _in my own bed_, or else I was going to explode!

"Naruto!" I heard a female voice say from outside the house. It was probably Kotori, locked outside again. I trusted that my shadow clone would get the door for me, so I lay down, expecting sleep at any moment.

"Naruto!" I heard again. I hoped my clone would get that sooner.

_Crash_!

I got up, suddenly alert. My room window was completely gone. In it's place, flew a girl in purple armor.

"Naruto! I've been calling for you!"

"Tohka? What are you doing here?"

"You said you would take me on a date, didn't you? I want to find out what that means. What is a date? Date! Date! Date! Date! Date!"

"O-okay Tohka. I'll take you out, just give me a moment to get ready." I said as I lifted myself from my bed and into my closet.

I was _so_ not getting my beauty sleep for a while.

* * *

The shopping district was as lively as ever, and I thought that would be a great place to take someone in order to fall in love with the world.

"Is this a date?" asked an overexcited Tohka, who was holding a piece of bread. She was wearing a school uniform from my school. Apparently, she could control what she was wearing with her powers, so I had her copy from three girls from my class. I didn't know them that well, but I had waited for the shortest of them to say "disgusting" before leaving. For some reason it always made me smile a little.

"No, that's not a date." I answered.

"Why isn't something as great as this a date?" She asked, confirming my earlier theory about this being the right place.

"It's only a part of it."

"Only a part? Oh, I get it! There must be a giant amount of great stuff which composes the date!" she said with fire in her eyes.

"Well, not literally."

"Let's go to the daaate!" she said, watering in the mouth and taking me running by the hand.

"_Well, you certainly _are_ an unpredictible one_!" said a voice in my earpiece. "_Already on your date_?" asked Kotori.

"Well, yeah. Is it a problem or something?" I answered, in a low enough tone so that Tohka couldn't hear. Before I could hear her answer, Tohka had stopped mid-street. There was a gigantic crowd in front of us.

"Are they allies of the Mecha Team?" she asked, a small ball of purple light shining on top of her finger.

"Mecha Team? Oh, you mean the AST?"

"Is that what you call them? Well, I better kill them before they get a chance to attack."

"Wait! No! These people are not here to kill you! I told you, aside from the AST nobody wants you dead!"

"Oh" she said, looking relieved. "Then what shall we do now? Should we go get our date?"

"Well... a date isn't something you... yeah, whatever, let's go get it!"

I took her by the hand, and walked into my favorite shop here: _Men Men Ramen_! We sat at the bar and I ordered for the both of us. Soon, it became a Ramen-eating contest!

"This must... surely be a... date!" Tohka managed to say between dishes (yeah, dishes. We were both _that_ fast). And I didn't even correct her! This was probably as good as a date could get!

Once I was full and she was one tenth full, I let her lead me around. After a while, we came across some of Kotori's underlings. They let us win a lottery, and led us to a hotel, calling it "Dream-Land". Tohka had wanted to go in _so_ bad, it had taken me a shadow clone to move her away.

"_Naruto_," I heard in my earpiece.

"What is it Kotori? Am I doing okay?

"_Surprisingly so, she already likes you enough to want to be your girlfriend! Anyways, remember the residential area you where once drove Tonomachi's car into a tree? Head there."_

I hated that memory. To be fair, the damage was not too bad, and it had been my first time driving. I knew the area well, and the tree especially well.

* * *

Somewhere, Kotori was giving out orders to her subordinates on different screens.

"Get in line everybody! Date Town formation number three! You there, get the special Ratatoskr confetti! You, get more food going! The ramen guy, prepare for an all-out attack against your restaurant, apparently the girl enjoys ramen more than my brother!

Everybody who Kotori had talked to finished with a quick "Yes Ma'am!" before turning their screen off.

The date was going to be a success, and it would be thanks to her!

* * *

The second we got there, we were bathed with confetti.

"Congratulations! You are our 100,000th costumers! Just for today, everything here is free!"

Tohka's eyes opened wide, and so did mine. This was no residential area, this was the best collection of food-based stands I had seen!

"_Just go with it_." Kotori said in my ear.

We ate, and had fun and so many things happened, that it felt like a distant dream whenever we were done with an activity. When we got tired, we went to an empty playground with view of the town. The sun would set soon, but we still had a little time before that.

"I still don't feel normal around humans," Tohka said at one point. "I'm so used to fighting them, I get all tense when around them. I feel like I have a lot of fighting energy inside, and now I can keep it in, and I want to, but the energy won't leave. Is that weird?"

"No," I answered. "Happens to me all the time. You see, I don't remember much about my past, but I do know that grown ups mistreated me for no apparent reason. I still feel awkward when dealing with older people, but it's getting better."

There was silence for a moment.

"Hey, I know!" I said. "Since you have all that fighting energy, why don't we spar? Like, a friendly fight!"

"A friendly fight? I have never thought about that!" she answered.

"Yeah, and I've got just the thing!"

I jumped into a nearby statue, using the same trick I did for chakra dashes, and did a familiar hand seal.

"_Tajiu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_!" I shouted. Suddenly, there were now a few hundred Narutos behind me.

"These guys don't feel pain, and they return to me if they die, so you can go all out on them!"

"R-really?" Asked Tohka. She wasn't someone who liked to break and destroy things. In fact the opposite was true, but she what she did have was a lot of excess energy, which she couldn't take out on anything. The 500 vs. 1 fight would let her release energy without causing a lot of damage. I had been careful not to put too much into my clones, so that she could defeat them all. Eventually.

She made a sword out of thin air, took it out of its scabbard, and rushed into battle.

"_Sandalphon_!" she yelled.

It wasn't very long until she sliced her scabbard in half, and it added itself onto the sword. Now, it was the biggest friggin sword I had seen in my life.

"_Halvanhelev_!" she screamed. Now, by this point, the clone count was at three hundred. In the next five seconds, it decreased to a hundred.

"Hey!" I shouted out to her. "Wanna quick break?"

She looked at me, already sweating. "Okay!"

She sat next to me, huffing and puffing.

"Hey, I forgot to ask you, what is a date? I wasn't able to reach a conclusion." she said.

"You know? I haven't been on many, so I can't tell you much, but as far as I know, it's when a guy and a girl, interested in each other, go out to have a good time."

"Then we're definitively having a date!" she said, but then her eyes turned melancholic. "I get it now. Why the Mecha Team wants to kill me. This world is beautiful, and so is everyone on it. Every time I come here here, I destroy something beautiful. I don't deserve this place."

"That's not true and you know it!" I snapped. "You do deserve this place. Heck, for what you've been through, you deserve the world!"

"No I don't! I don't belong here. I shouldn't return here. What if I cause another spacequake?"

"You didn't cause one today, as far as I could tell! You have every right to be here, and whoever says you don't is a fool! And I know about fools, trust me!"

"But just because I didn't cause one today it doesn't mean I won't cause one if I come tomorrow!"

"Then don't leave! Stay here with me!"

"I can't! I don't know anything about this world! I would need sustenance and housing! I can't just live here!"

"Yes you can! I will teach you every thing I know! You can live with me and Kotori! We will provide food for you! You don't ever have to leave!"

"But..." she started, her voice suddenly turning small. "Many people... like the Mecha Team... will never accept me..."

"Then I'll protect you from their stares and from their guns! I will shield you against anyone who would harm you! Please, if only for me, stay here."

"A-am I really allowed to live here?"

"Of course. You can live here forever." I said, taking her hand. "Now, I still have a hundred clones waiting for us to finish talking so they can fight you. Are you up for it?

She smiled the most brilliant smile I had seen. "Yes!"

Tohka went into an unoccupied spot, and began the fight against a hundred clones. When about half of those were left, she used a tiny purple sphere on one of them.

Instantly, all of my clones disappeared, and I collapsed. The attack had somehow spread to the clones and to me. I was paralyzed, and couldn't move. I saw everything my clones had seen, but one memory in particular startled me. No, it downright scared me. Apparently, all of my clones had been dissipated, including the ones that weren't here. Including the ones at my home. Including... you know? I think I will summon that clone again. He should tell this part of the story himself.

* * *

**Okay, I had a thank you speech planned, but the second I started writing this author note, I forgot every word of it, so I'm just gonna say this: thank you all for being such great readers and reviewers.**

**Sincerely, vbarreiro**

**Now, on to the deleted scenes!**

* * *

_Chapter 1 deleted scene: This was another route I thought about when thinking the story out. All things considered, I think the route I chose gave me more options, but still, what do you guys think?_

I was a man with two pasts, or so I liked to believe. I had memories which felt like mine, and memories that just... didn't. The curious thing is that the ones that feel more real are the ones that are more far-fetched. In those, there were ninjas, and techniques, and so many different things that I couldn't even begin to describe! But still, my memories were incomplete. I couldn't tell you but small bits of my story, and I remembered so many faces, but not a single name. Actually, scratch that. I remembered the name of my enemy. An opponent nobody could have defeated. He was responsible for all the misfortune in my life.  
_ Obito_.

* * *

_Chapter 5 deleted scene: For this one, I was going to make a copy of how Tohka got her bread pillow, but instead decided that I should go with something original and make a battle between hundreds of underpowered Narutos and Tohka. Besides, it was too early to introduce Wind Style. Anyways, here you go! (it happens right after the ramen restaurant scene)_

She ate most of the things in the shopping district, so at least she was half full by now. At one point, she led me into a random building, which turned out to be an arcade.

"I-Is this the Mecha Team base?" she asked flustered.

"No, this is a place where you come and play games. Wanna try one?"

She was already way ahead of me.

"What is this one?" she asked. She was in front of one of those things where you used a claw to try to pick up a prize and drop in in a "win-zone", which meant you could take the prize, usually a plushie. In this case, there were some kind of bread shaped pillow.

"You play, and if you win, you get to keep one of those."

"C-cool! I want that!" she said, and with that she proceeded to spend all of our remaining money. Not that I cared, since Kotori had given it to me for the specific purpose of my date.

"I'm no good at this, Naruto!" said Tohka.

"Here, I'll help you." I said. "See, you press the buttons, and I'll tell you when to push, okay? I'm at my last coin, so this is our last chance. You ready?"

She took the coin, and pressed it into the coin slot. The claw began to move, and I watched carefully.

"Now!" I said, and sure enough, the claw grabbed the pillow, but I didn't relax just yet. The claw made the everlasting voyage to the win-zone, until finally it fell... but only half over the win-zone. We had been this close, and that made me mad, but I looked at Tohka, and I was nowhere near her level of upset.

"Please fall!" She begged at the pillow. "We tried our best! Please! I beg of you, fall!"

She was on the verge of tears. I had to do something.

So I let my instincts take over. I pressed a hand against the glass separating me from the toys, and thought Wind. As if responding to me, the dust on the pillows accumulated into a small twister, which pushed the pillow until-

"It fell!" Tohka exclaimed with a huge smile. Then, she proceeded to sink her teeth into the bread-shaped pillow.


	6. Vol 1: Chapter 6

**Hey everybody! So today, we're finishing an arc! To celebrate, this is by far the longest chapter so far, including last week's deleted scenes! I dropped some slight hints on what would happen in today's chapter, congratulations to Redmoon2 for guessing one of the plot twists! **

**Also, I would like to make an announcement, on a bit of a sadder note. After much consideration, I decided that daily updates, although good for improving my writing, were keeping me from doing a lot of other things, and this is my last week of vacation, so it is possible that I don't update for a few days. Thanks for understanding. Anyway, let's hear the next chapter, starting from a Naruto Clone's mouth!**

* * *

Chapter 6:

Alright, just to make this clear, I'm just a shadow clone, and even though I am Naruto, and my memories get added to him when I dissipate, make no mistake. This happened to _me_, so that's why he thinks I should tell this part. While the original Naruto was having his fun time eating ramen by the bucketload, I was going through _a lot_ of things, most of which I could have done without. The weird thing is, it started really well. I was stuck with a girl who, although pushy, was pretty beautiful, and well, it felt good to receive attention, so after a few awkward minutes of the real me leaving, I started talking to Origami.

"Hey, I wanted to thank you for the tea. It was really good." I said.

"You are welcome. Do you want more?" she answered.

"Uh, no thanks, I've had enough."

"I see." she said. I expected her to say something else, but she was silent after that.

"Say, Origami, last time I was with you, we talked until the spacequake. How about we go somewhere else this time?"

"A-are you asking me on another date?" she asked, in a rare moment of shock. "Of course, it makes sense. You and I are lovers, after all."

"What? I never said anything like that! Why would you think that anyway?"

"Because we are." she said.

"That's not helpful!"

She just stood there, holding my gaze, until I felt uncomfortable and looked down.

"Anyways, we should go. Where do you want to go?" I asked.

"To train. That is what I do at his time of the day. Every day."

"O-kay... then... where should we train?"

"We?" she asked. She had not expected me to offer. It was hard to keep her on her toes, so I was happy at the question.

"Yeah, we. I don't know why, but the word 'training' excites me. I could totally work out some!"

"Well, then, since you are a normal, untrained person, I will not use my equipment. Also, I don't want to kill you, so don't die."

"Die? What sort of training do you have here?"

"Standard AST parter training: Three-minute time-based matches. First person to reach two victories wins."

"Oh. Okay then, I guess I'll have to fight you!"

She walked towards her bed, pushed a button hidden inside the pillow, and suddenly all the furniture disappeared through the walls with the help of some mechanism. Now all that surrounded us were white walls and a wooden floor.

"I will be easy on you." she said.

"Don't think you'll be winning, then." I retorted.

* * *

The first match had been easy, given how underestimated I had been. For the second, Origami had gotten serious and kicked my butt. We were currently on the third one.

"You are better than you show." said an unfazed Origami.

"Thanks, same to you."

"But I will not lose" she said.

"I wouldn't count on it."

As I said that, I sent a taijutsu kick towards her face. She ducked under it, and punched my underleg, making me lose balance.

"You lose." she said, but I wasn't ready to go just yet. I turned the momentum into a backflip, but now I was between a rock and a hard place, because my back was to the wall. She went for a flying kick, which would have hit me any way I moved.

Except for "up".

I jumped up, and landed on her outstretched leg. When she tried to remove it from under me, I jumped again, and landed perfectly... on the ceiling. She made no expression, but I could tell she was confused. I continued the fight, and she blocked. We didn't stop fighting, even though I was unexplainably upside down. At one point, I tried to kick her, but she instead jumped and attacked my standing leg, which was still on the ceiling. I lost footing, and started to fall. She thought she had won, but that was exactly the situation I had been trying to create. With the leg I had made the kick, I pushed her in mid-air so that her body was sideways. Once her belly was facing straight up, I brought my other foot down on it. I didn't put too much force into it, but she fell like a brick.

"_One-man Uzumaki Barrage_!" I screamed along with the move. Just to give you an idea of how long the whole event lasted, by the time I said the word "barrage", she was already trying to get up.

"Nope! I win!" I said as I placed my open palm to her neck. That meant I had won! I proceeded to help her up.

"Nice match. I had never been defeated before."

"Not hard to believe. I'm not sure I would have won if not for the whole ceiling thing."

"Yes, I wanted to ask you about that. What are you exactly?" she asked. "You can multiply yourself. I have seen you run at impossible speeds. You walked on the ceiling. What are you?"

"To tell the truth, I don't know. I mean, I know very few things about my past." I answered. Then, she looked at me fiercely. I guessed what she was thinking, and took a step back. "I-I'm not a Spirit, if that's what you're thinking!"

Her look returned to the usual soft, uninfluenced one.

"I see. Then we can find out what you are later. For now, this amount of training will suffice." she said. She didn't look tired, and despite the force of my kick, she didn't look hurt at all, so why did she want to leave? Could it be that she was a sore loser?

"You know, now that you've trained, we could go somewhere else. I mean, this is supposed to be something like a date, isn't it?"

"It is a date."

"Yeah, so how about we go somewhere and have a little fun?"

"I would like that," she said. "But I will need a shower first."

Then, right in front of me, she stripped naked. I covered my eyes, but there had been some temptation to look. I didn't uncover them until I heard the sound of the water running.

She had left the door open and a man's tie hanging on the doorknob. It was almost as if she was inviting me to join.

Tempting, but no.

* * *

The shopping district had been my number one pick. It had the best food places in all of Tenguu City, and seeing that Origami was a food _connoisseur_, I just had to take her there. Besides, I was _really_ hungry.

"Well, you certainly are an _unpredictible one_!" I heard Kotori say in my earpiece. "Already on your date?"

"Yeah," I whispered. "But why are you following my date with Origami?" I asked, not realizing that she was speaking to the original me.

Suddenly, Origami stopped. She was looking at a small device that had a map of the city. I managed to read: "Spirit Energy detected". She pressed a few buttons. There was a quick loading screen, and then it read "No spacequake found.". Next, she identified who was the owner of the energy. A picture of Tohka appeared, next to a text box. "Codename: Princess" it read. Did that mean Tohka had been found? It couldn't be!

"Hey, is something going on?" I asked, acting dumb.

"Yes. I'm sorry, I have to go." she said, and ran away, faster than I was usually able to. I _could_ have chakra dashed to reach her, but I didn't wanna raise suspicious eyes. Instead, I thought about what to do. I usually just burst in whenever I was faced with this kind of choices, but this time the stakes were higher than they usually were.

"Uzumaki Naruto, lost in though. Not to mention dumped. A rare sight indeed!" a deep voice said.

"Who are you?" I asked. I looked at him, to discover that I had already seen him before. He was the man with the silver mask. Something was odd about his voice, though. It sounded... different. And besides, he had been wearing a blue robe before, whereas he has now wearing a black one.

"My name is not important, but I do have something that might interest you. You see, I know a alot about your past, and why you are here. In fact, I know more about you than you do as of now. So why not follow me?" he said. He calmly walked into an old restaurant that had closed a few years ago. There, he turned a knob in his helmet. Slowly, through the metallic surface of the mask, an eyehole became apparent. My guess was that the mask was usually see-through from the inside, but that was irrelevant. What really caught my attention were the eyes. They were brilliant red, with something resembling three tomoe around the pupil. Piece by piece, stimulated by the image, my mind managed to articulate a single word.

"The sharingan." I said.

"Very good! I did not expect you to remember as much. But still, you remain useless as you are. To make my plans succeed, you will need to be reminded of something."

The instant he said that, his eye glowed and started turning. The next moment, I did not know where I was.

* * *

I was laying on the floor in a huge boiler room. There were several corridors leading from it, but most of them, save for very few, had prison bars across them. At the end of the room, there was another set of bars, but this one looked a hundred feet tall. There was another difference.

This one was open.

I walked in. There was a huge figure standing in the shadows, moving several limbs graciously.

"Who are you?" I asked. I wanted to be scared, but somehow I felt comforted instead. The answer that came was a deep, enormous bellow.

"**Do you not know? I am the one who has been with you since the day you were born. I am a being of hatred, or I have been. I was an enemy to you, and your biggest helper at the same time. We were foes, until we became comrades. But now, do you not remember my name?**"

I smiled. Seeing that face had awoken some memories in me. When that happened, a corridor was unlocked behind me.

"Of course I do, Kurama." I said with a warm smile.

The beast smiled, and closed his eyes.

"**Good to have you back, Naruto.**" Said Kurama, the Nine Tailed Fox.

I walked out, and explored the place. I saw the door that had been unlocked when I had remembered about Kurama. The bars were already coming down again, and I was starting to forget his name. I couldn't allow that. I grabbed the bars that were slowly coming down and, with every bit of strength I could muster, I managed to lift them completely, at which point they broke.

Instantly, I was flooded with memories. Kurama appeared in every one of them. I remembered meeting him, in this very room. I remember being enveloped in his hatred. I remembered asking, and demanding for his help. I remembered him cursing me in defeat, although I couldn't remember how that had happened. I remembered opening his cage, proclaiming our newfound companionship.

At the same time, three characters in japanese appeared at the door. Seeing them made me smile

They said "Kurama".

Excited about finding about my past, I tried another few sets of bars, but to no avail. I found one called "Techniques", but it was full of sub-corridors, very few of which were opened. In fact, in all my time I spent there, I only found one more door I could open, which was called "Basic Chakra." That one was simple, but helpful in finding out who I had been before all this.

Once I had given up, I stirred up my inner chakra, and disappeared from this area which, as I had come to accept, was my subconscious.

* * *

I was again inside the abandoned restaurant. The masked man was gone, but he had left me something important. A new form of power. When I had entered the Basic Chakra section, one extra memory had unlocked itself. Apparently, having discovered both the "Kurama" section and the "Basic Chakra" ones was needed to remember this one. The unlocked memory was of me, on some sort of light yellow, almost white fire. It was made of chakra. The Nine Tails Chakra mode.

I activated it, and looked for negative emotions, one of the powers of my newfound form. If my theory was right, Origami had found Tohka, a Spirit like the one that had killed her parents. Not many things collected negative emotions like thirst for revenge.

I was right. I could see Origami, all geared up and climbing a hill with another AST member. The white-haired girl was holding a sniper gun in one hand, and a Spirit energy searcher in the other.

* * *

The original Naruto was talking with Tohka at that time.

"Hey, I know!" he said. "Since you have all that fighting energy, why don't we spar? Like, a friendly fight!"

"A friendly fight? I have never thought about that!" Tohka answered happily.

* * *

"I don't know," Origami's partner said, tired from all the climbing. They could have flown. but it would have called too much attention. "This has never happened before, a Spirit appearing without a spacequake, I mean, how are we supposed to find it?"

* * *

"_Halvanhelev_!" Tohka screamed. Her sword got huge, and she sent off a wave that reduced 2/3 of the three hundred remaining clones to puffs of smoke. She disappeared the sword, but the purple wave had been visible for miles.

* * *

"There she is!" shouted Origami's partner. They were quite near to the place where Halvanhelev had been unleashed. It would not take them two minutes to set up a sniping site. The sun was setting, and the sky was getting orange, so if they were to do something, it would have to be soon, before nightfall.

* * *

"A-am I really allowed to live here?" a nearly crying Tohka asked the original Naruto.

"Of course. You can live here forever." he answered, taking her hand. "Now, I still have a hundred clones waiting for us to finish talking so they can fight you. Are you up for it?

* * *

"The sniping point is set. Awaiting for orders."

"Are we clear to snipe?" Tobiichi Origami asked.

"Not yet, I'm waiting for, wait, she is attacking the civilians!" Said Origami's flustered partner. "Origami, we're clear to snipe, save those people!"

Origami knew that those were Naruto's shadow clones, but she didn't say anything. This was a man who had beaten her in a fight. If he had summoned so many of himself to fight her, the situation could not be good. Now if only she would not move so much...

* * *

"Damn, even in Nine Tails Chakra mode, there's no way I can reach them!" I shouted. I was chakra dashing towards them, but Origami was already aiming her gun. I needed to relay the information, to save Tohka, but I couldn't reach them.

"**Hey, Naruto, I could overload the clone system, since you apparently can't dissipate yourself.**"

"Woah, feeling helpful, are we Kurama?" I said.

"**Did you say anything**?" Asked the fox menacingly.

"Nope! Nothing at all! Now can we please go?"

"**That's more like it.**"

* * *

Alright, thanks for telling that part, clone of me, I'll take it from here on. Now, where were we? Oh yeah, I was on the ground, all my shadow clomes gone, and I had a load of new memories I didn't have the time to process. But there was a half second to do what I needed to do. I switched into Kurama mode and jumped in front of Tohka. I moved a good thirty feet in under a second. And as I felt the bullet pierce through me instead of Tohka, I knew I had succeeded.

* * *

Tohka stared at Naruto's unmoving body. He had caught on a white fire, and that had stopped the bullet from really going through to her, but it had slowly been put out, revealing a gruesome wound.

"_Adonai Melek_!" called Tohka. Her school uniform became a purple battle suit.

"_Sandalphon, Halvanhelev_!" she shouted. Her ultimate weapon appeared, and she searched with her eyes for the one responsible.

* * *

"I killed him, I killed Uzumaki Naruto" Origami said, completely and utterly shaken. "I... I'm no different from a spirit."

By now, Tohka had found her, and she wasn't happy.

"My friend! My sparring partner! My SOULMATE! YOU KILLED MY NARUTO!"

Wave after wave of Halvanhelev attacked Tobiichi Origami, only to be stopped by the state-of-the-art-grade defenses in her suit. She did nothing to stop it. She could not move an inch.

"Why? Why did you kill him! You deserve death, followed by more death!" screamed a crying Tohka.

* * *

Somewhere, Kotori and her team of specialists watched the whole scene. Naruto had been killed, and saving Tohka, no less. Still, Kotori remained cool as a cucumber.

"You think this is all it will take for my brother to die?" she asked.

She expected by now the flames of healing to appear on the wound, but they didn't. Instead, a red, transparent liquid formed over his unconscious body. The wounds healed so fast, that even Kotori herself was surprised. When the healing was done, the red liquid came back into Naruto's body, and he opened his eyes. On that same instant, he conjured up the whitish-yellow flames that had been on him before, and jumped up to where Tohka was.

Kotori, who always had a lollipop in her mouth, opened it so wide, that the piece of candy fell to the ground.

* * *

"Tohka!" I screamed. I was barely alive, but I could see the fight that had gone on. She saw me, and caught me mid-leap.

"Naruto! You're alive!" she cried happily.

Then, the huge-ass sword began to glow.

"Oh no! I've lost control of Halvanhelev! It has too much energy! Ihave to take it out somewhere!"

"Hey, no worries. Hand me that sword." I said, as I extended a chakra arm to grab it. Then, I extended the arm skyward, and hoped it would be enough."

"_That won't do! You'll die at that distance!_" Kotori's voice screamed in my ear.

"What do I do then?" I asked. I was starting to panic.

"_Kiss her, you idiot!_" she shouted. I didn't have time to argue. I was only hoping that my cute little sister had offered a solution and not just "a better way to spend the end."

"H-hey Tohka! Kiss me!" I said, but then thought the better of it. I would not spend my last moments taking advantage of a girl's lack of experience.

"Kiss? what is a kiss?" she asked.

"It's when a guy and a girl put their lips togeth-"

I never finished that sentence, because Tohka and I shared both of our first kisses, then and there.

Then, something amazing happened. Halvanhelev was destroyed into a thousand pieces, but they didn't disappear. They formed into a glove around my extended chakra arm. Next, when I exited the mode, they disappeared with it. Weird.

For some reason, I didn't notice before, but Tohka had been holding on to my body especially close, and when I looked down, I discovered why. Her clothes were disappearing. She was about to be completely naked, so I gave her a hand. I materialized the Nine Tails Chakra mode, and shared it around her. Now nobody would be able to see that the person hugging me was naked.

"T-thanks." she said. "For everything."

"You've got nothing to thank for, Tohka."

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Do you like me, Naruto?"

"More than you know."

"And... Naruto...?"

"Yes?"

"Will you take me out on more dates?"

"Of course." I promised.

_And I never go back on my word._

* * *

**So, as the first arc comes to an end, I wanted to thank all of you guys, who have there every step of the way, like Strife666, Redmoon2 and ken lim, to name a few. I really appreciate it. Well, I hope to see you again when I next update!**

**P.S. Somebody asked me if I had tried Origami mix tea, the answer is yes and no, it is based off of a mix that I enjoy at Te Avana, if you know one near you. If you want to try it, ask for Aztec Fire mixed with Honeybush Vanilla, with soymilk and sweetened with sugar. Oh and make sure it's hot! Enjoy!**

**P.S.S. I had to re-edit this chapter, so I might have missed some of the corrections I had already made.**


	7. Vol 2: Chapter 7

**Hey people! I'm back, after my day and a half break! You got it, I just couldn't keep away from you guys! Today, we start a new, deeper, darker plotline, which I'm sure you guys will enjoy, since it will have more suspense, and keep you guys guessing what's gonna happen. I also show that nobody's perfect, for example, naruto as a person is hotheaded and tends to be dense, which he can keep in check most of the time but... well, to say anymore would spoil the story, so Hobey Ho, let's go!**

* * *

Chapter 7:

I had pretty much everything figured out. Until now, that is. This part I had _not_ expected.

"What do you mean Tohka is not the only spirit, Kotori?"

My cute little sister sat in the commander's chair in the Fraxinus. That meant she was part of an organization called "Ratatoskr", whose job was to hunt down a Spirit called Tohka, responsible for a special kind of natural disaster called spacequake.

Or so I had thought.

As it turns out, my job was not just to stop Tohka by making her fall in love. There were more Spirits, more girls to conquer. And I had to make every single one fall for me, like I had done for Tohka.

Kotori laced her finger through the black scarf that held her pigtails. I believed their color changed her personality drastically, but that seemed impossible.

Then again, what was impossible now? After all I had seen, could such a word even exist?

"Sorry, but I'm not doing it. You're gonna have to find yourself a different _Don Juan_, because there's no way I'm doing that more than once." I said.

"Why, are you scared?" asked Kotori. "Oh, just pop that cherry, there's nothing to be scared of, _if_ you do your job right." she stopped for a second. "Besides, there's all those weird abilities you seem to have..."

She was right. Earlier, I had done so many things that defied the very concept of "possible". Multiplied myself. Run at impossible speeds. Some things so amazing, I can't begin to describe. All I knew was the fact that I did them with the aid of "chakra", the spiritual energy inside of me.

"What does that have to do with anything? I'm not afraid. I have the feeling I've been through worse." I said. I had no idea who I had been before the last few months, but I kept thinking that my life had been full of hardships.

"Then what is it?"

"I just don't want to!"

"Could it be..." asked Kotori tentatively. "That you've got feelings for Tohka?"

I hoped I didn't blush. I know I did.

"Oh no. You actually fell for her?" she asked laughing.

"So what if I like her? Wasn't that supposed to be my job?"

"No, your job was to make _her_ fall for _you_." she said, suddenly dead serious.

This was getting stressful. "That's it. I'm out of here. Reine, teleport me home."

"You should reconsider, Natsu." said Reine. "This might not be the wisest course of action."

"Like I give a damn. If I had been told that this job would involve me being an asshole to every girl that you threw at me, I would have never signed up in the first place."

On that angry note, I disappeared from the Fraxinus, and into my home.

* * *

"Naruto!" exclaimed Tohka. She would now live with me, so it was no surprise that she had been laying comfortably in my couch when I got home.

"H-hey Tohka! You look good in your new uniform!" I said. Since her clothes had disappeared earlier that day, Reine had arranged for a few things to buy. It was already nighttime, so it was weird that she had changed into that first.

"Thank you, I waited for you to see it!"

"I-is that so?"

We spent the next twenty minutes talking about, well, it was more of me explaining her how stuff worked, but she understood me. It was weird to be teaching someone, rather that having them look down on me. It was a nice feeling. After a while, I told her to get into her pajamas, and sat in the couch. A bright flash of light appeared, and was soon changed for my sister, Kotori.

She looked at me. In her hand she was gripping white hair ribbons, but she was wearing the black ones. I had noticed than when she wore the black ones, she Whatever was going to happen then, it didn't happen, she just stared at me and left. She didn't say a word, she just left.

"Naruto! How do I look?" asked Tohka, appearing out of nowhere in her pajamas.

"It's really nice. Listen, I think I should go for a walk.. I'll be back soon, okay?"

"Huh? Is something wrong Naruto?"

"It's nothing. I just need to think some stuff through."

"But it's raining! Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"I'll be fine." I saw the look Tohka was giving me, so I forced myself to smile for her. "Thank you for asking. I will explain everything later on, but for now, thanks for being here."

I smiled one last time, and headed into the rainy outside.

* * *

"Why is this happening?" I asked myself. I had never wanted to hurt anybody. As things stood now, I probably would, because I had gone out both with Tohka and Origami at the same time and, being frank, I had enjoyed both of their dates. To be fair, I had not known at any point what the other me had been doing at the time, but still, I felt like an idiot. How was I going to face Origami and tell her that? And Tohka was to start classes tomorrow, in my class no less. Should I tell them? Hide it? For how long?

When had life gotten so complicated?

"**Feeling down, eh?**" asked a voice inside my head.

"Yeah. I guess I can't keep anything from you, can I Kurama?"

"**Not even if you wanted to. I understand the situation, but I still do not know why you have left like that**."

"Is it important?" I asked

"**I was born from hatred. I know what causes it. Wrath, mistrust, silence, despair. Those are all signs of hatred starting to take shape.**"

"I don't hate Kotori, but I have the right to be angry, don't I?"

**"Did I say your name when I said that? No... the one who is feeling that right now is the girl**."

I stopped dead in my tracks.

"Okay, I'll go apologize tomorrow, but don't expect me to like the idea of making myself a harem."

"**It is not I who expects it. Anyways, you have company, so I will leave now.**"

"Compa-?" I asked, but I stumbled into somebody. Apparently, I had been so focused on my talk with Kurama, I had not noticed the stranger. She was a very small, very frail-looking girl, dressed in a green bunny outfit, not like a sexy bunny, more of a plushie bunny. She recoiled and did her best to get away from me, but crashed into a tree. She looked at me, and braced herself for a blow. This was strange, as I had done nothing to hurt her, other than being careless.

"P-please don't hurt me." she said.

"Hurt you? Why on Earth would I do that?"

Instead of her answering, she raised a hand puppet with the shape of a bunny. "Yoshinon doesn't know why you people always bully her. People who bother Yoshinon don't deserve to be called more than worthless dry lettuce."

That was weird, and it put the bunny metaphor a few levels beyond what's normal, but I decided to go with it.

"And who bullies Yoshinon?"

The pupped recoiled in surprise. "Who told you Yoshinon's name?" it asked.

"You did. Anyway, I dislike bullies, need some help with that?"

The hand puppet looked at the girl, and back to me, which was kind of unnerving.

"Yoshinon does not need help. Yoshinon is fine. You should be honored you got to talk to Yoshinon, but your time is over. Yoshinon says goodbye!"

The puppet blasted itself in the direction opposite to me, apparently pulling the girl with it.

Yeah, talk about weird. I tried talking to Kurama, but he was fast asleep. I was alone on the way home, for the first time in a long while.

* * *

When I got home, I went straight to my room. I was not ready for family drama. I just needed to rest, but the moment I pit the covers on, there was a knock on the door. Could it be Kotori?

"Come in." I said. The door opened to a timid looking Tohka.

"I keep having bad dreams. Horrible dreams. Can I sleep with you?"

I paused for a second. "Sure." I said as I opened by blankets, so she could fit in.

"Thank you, Naruto. You are such a great person."

At the moment, I was not too sure about that.

* * *

The next morning, I woke up with Tohka's arm around me. All the more reason why I couldn't simply and carelessly betray her. I looked at the clock. It was exactly ten minutes before I was supposed to get to school. Kotori always woke me up, but today she had just left for school, without kicking me good morning. I really needed to do something about it!

I had an idea, but I had to wake Tohka up to do it, which was easier said than done. After that, I prepared boxed lunches for the both of us. As I did that, I felt a wave of guilt, because one of the tupperwares I had been using was the one I always packed Kotori's lunch in. Whether an instant ramen or a terrible bentou, I had always used the same tupperware.

I forced that out of my mind. I had to work quick, or Tohka and I would be late. Speaking of which, she was ready by now, so I put my plan in action, but first there was something I needed to check.

"Tohka, the armor you always wear is part of your Spirit powers, right?"

"Yes, I can use it to change my outfit, but..."

"It's not working?"

"No." she said pouting.

"Thought not. I thought it was weird that it had disappeared yesterday, so at least for today, you are as human as I am. Anyway, that just means I'll have to carry you there."

Before she had time to process what was going on, I picked up Tohka piggyback, used chakra to jump to the roof, turned on Kyubi Chakra mode, which made me faster than lightning, and jumped through every rooftop in my way until I was at my school's rooftop.

I might not have known much about my past self, but some guy I must've been, if I could do all that!

I dropped a dizzy Tohka from over my shoulder into the academy's entrance. She was tipsy but heading in the general direction of the classroom. I checked my watch. I still had five minutes before class started.

Five minutes I could not allow to go to waste.

I thought back on what Kurama had said. Kotori was probably on the verge of hating me, if only a little. No matter the situation, I couldn't allow that to happen. Now, handling it would be tricky, since I still didn't agree with her, but there must have been something I could do.

When the idea came, I ran without questioning. I went to a restaurant in particular, still in chakra mode. It had been demolished during Tohka's first spacequake, but what can I say? Here at Tenguu city we rebuild fast.

I knew the restaurant on sight. It might have been a watered down version of its old self on the outside, but thankfully the menu hadn't lost any of its previous glory. I knew exactly what to order. It took exactly two minutes and a half before it was in a bag, ready to be taken by me. It had taken me exactly thirty seconds to come up with this plan and reach this place. That meant that I had exactly 1:30 by this point to complete my plan and be back at school, but seeing what I had in hand, I resisted the urge to desist.

I reached my next target in just under twenty seconds. I turned off Chakra Mode just outside the place I intended to go into. Without a second's hesitation, I came inside the room uninvited.

I was now inside a classroom full of pre-teens. Everyone must have thought I was a substitute teacher, because all of the kids sat down in their spots the very second I came in. All but one.

"What are you doing here?" Asked Kotori. She was wearing her white ribbons, which meant she would be at least partially docile to me.

I said nothing, and approached her. I left the bag I had been carrying in her desk.

"Sorry for not being able to make you breakfast today." I said, as she removed the small box from the bag.

It was a _Deluxe Kid's Meal._

I turned around, and calmly walked out of the classroom. I was running out of time, so I would just have to imagine the face she made. The second I was out the door, I checked my watch.

_Thirty seconds!_

I rushed to my own school. Considering I was half a city away, I was nervous I wouldn't make it, but I soon I found myself in the school's entrance.

_Ten seconds!_

I turned Chakra Mode off, because I didn't want to risk running into anybody by mistake, and also because it would be inconvenient if I was seen. I chakra dashed through the school.

_Five seconds!_

I could see my classroom in the distance.

Three seconds!

I was almost at the door.

_One second!_

I entered the door at the same time the bell rang. Strangely, even though I had just come out of an adventure, I was ready to take on whatever the day threw at me!

Besides, all that had left me a feeling of accomplishment that could not be acquired easily, and that made me feel good!

* * *

"But, why didn't you multiply yourself?" Tohka would ask later on, when I told her this story. It's true, I could have saved myself from a lot of trouble had I thought of that. Sometimes, the simplest ideas can be the brightest.

"I'm done telling stories for today." I would say, leaving a laughing Tohka behind. She would think I was an idiot, albeit a funny one, and I would silently agree with her, at least partly.

* * *

But that wouldn't happen for some time. Right now, there were different issues at hand. I was about to have my first meeting involving both Tohka and Origami simultaneously. Now _that_ would make a good story!

* * *

**So, that was today's chapter, hope you liked it, I know it is shorter than the rest, I hope I made up for that content-wise. Also, I wanted to thank all my great reviewers, but these five especially: Redmoon2, ken lim, Strife666, Roanes Steel, and FinalKingdomHearts. It is no exagereation to say that it's in great part thanks to you that I keep on writing.**

**Also, for the length, I might add on something to this, since I don't think you guys will be happy with me starting an arc with my shortest chapter so far. Anyhow, until then!**

**Edit: Today I was stuck all day feeling odd. I knew I had done a mediocre job in finishing the chapter, and decided that, not for my sake, but for you guys, I would make this into a chapter like the ones _you_ deserved! And so, I added a new scene!**

**And before anyone says it's unrealistic that Naruto would forget to use one of his most used skills, I want you to know that if I could forget until the scene was halfway written, Naruto can forget and not even notice he forgot.**

**Finally, I want to thank friaku, who reviewed every single chapter in volume 1, and thusly has gained access to my cherished reviewers list (seen above), as the 6th member. Thanks friaku!**


	8. Vol 2: Chapter 8

**Hey everybody! Just for you to know, I added an extra scene to chapter 7, so if you haven't checked that out, please do. I'll wait right here. **

**...**

**...**

**You done? Good. Frankly, I got tired of waiting for you, so while you read that, I wrote Chapter 8! Will Naruto hurt Tohka and Origami? Or will he manage to savage the situation? Will Kotori forgive Naruto? And will we learn more about this masked man? Find the answers to some of these questions below!**

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Chapter 8:

"_Sandalphon_!" screamed Tohka. I knew that word. It was her Angel, or simply put, the word she said in order to summon a gigantic sword. As I expected (and hoped) nothing happened. That was both good and bad, for various reasons.

Tohka noticed me, and walked up to me.

"Why is _she_ here? She's evil!"

I looked to the person she was pointing to. Tobiichi Origami. Damn. I had only just gotten to school, and there was already a scene between these two.

"I'll explain later, to both of you. For now, let's just all get along and listen to the teacher, okay?"

She looked down.

"Fine." she said. "But I get to sit next to Naruto!"

Origami, feeling like her territory was being trespassed, took her seat and placed it next to mine. Not to be discouraged, Tohka did the same on the other side.

"This is my spot." Origami said. "It has been ever since the school year started."

"And this one is mine now!" Tohka retorted.

"I fail to see why you would bother Naruto with your presence."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That you are unworthy to sit in that spot."

"That's my line!"

"Alright, both of you, stop this right now!" I screamed.

Origami tilted her face, as if this was not within her vast range of expectations. Tohka just made a confused face, which was easy to see.

"Why are you stopping me?" they both asked simultaneously.

"Okay, I planned to have this conversation later, but clearly it can't wait. Both of you, come with me."

I took them outside and, just in case, made two shadow clones transformed into the girls and one with no changes enter the classroom in our places. I had the feeling this was going to drag on, so I took them somewhere private, where we could talk for a long time.

"What is it my love?" asked Origami once we had reached the school's roof.

"Stop calling me that." I said. "Listen, yesterday... I made a serious mistake. I sent a shadow clone with one of you, and I went with the other. To be honest, I didn't think I would end up liking both of you, but I do. There's no way to keep this on without hurting one or both of you a lot, so-"

"I bet you were the one going out with the clone!" Tohka told Origami, ignoring me.

"It is because he wanted to tell you in person how much he hates you." Origami said, not denying that she went out with my clone.

"Naruto would never tell me he hates me!"

This was getting out of hand. Again.

"Hey, listen to me! I'm trying to tell you-" I said, bit was interrupted by a loud horn.

The spacequake alarm.

"I have to leave." said Origami.

"Damn it, so do I, we'll finish this talk later, okay?" I said. It was convenient that we all had Naruto-doubles becuase, for once, all three of us would be in the evacuation with the school. Nobody had suspected us for anything yet, but it was never good to take unnecessary chances.

"Wait!" said Tohka, who was the only one not used to walking towards spacequakes. "Can I go too?"

"I can't guarantee your safety if you come." I said. I saw determination in her face, which I was all too familiar with. She would not back on her word. "Even if you come, I'll have a shadow clone with you at all times. Are you okay with that?"

"Yes."

"Then let's go." I said, as I grabbed her and placed her on my arms, the way a man would carry a princess.

Then, we soared through the rooftops.

* * *

"So, where are we going?" Tohka asked. That was a surprisingly loaded question.

"To help someone." I said. I thought it best to not explain everything right then and there. She seemed to get my message and let me have silence for a while.

"Reine, do you copy?" I asked eventually.

"_I hear you, Natsu._"

"What are the Spirit's coordinates?"

"_I assumed you knew. You are headed straight for it._"

"Really?" I asked. I guess it must have been some sort of instinct. Still, I got her coordinates anyway.

"How will we know this person when we see her?" asked Tohka.

"She's a Spirit, just like you."

"Oh. Will she be my friend?" she asked. I had explained the concept of friends the day before, and how friends were precious things, and she had been really eager to make some of her own.

"Let's hope so!"

We arrived at the appointed building. It was a pretty dark and gloomy establishment. I noticed that it was raining only on top of it and the surrounding buildings. Could this be a power of the Spirit?

"Wait," I said. "Tohka, stay here. I'll leave a shadow clone with you, since your powers are apparently gone. He'll protect you, but I will need to be alone. If I bring you in, there's no telling if the Spirit will get scared and hurt us."

"But-!"

"Don't worry, you've done enough for now. Are you content to watch from the sidelines, at least for now?"

She wasn't having it.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"Can you promise me?" she asked.

"Yeah, I promise" I answered. I knew this might be a hard promise to keep, but I did it anyway.

Then, I turned and walked inside the building, ready for whatever would come. I walked a few open spaces, until I found a single girl. I was speechless. I had met this girl before.

"Y-Yoshinon?" I asked. The girl turned in surprise. "Don't worry, it's me, do you remember?"

She raised the hand puppet. "Oh yeah, Yoshinon remembers you. The blond idiot from yesterday, right?"

"Hey, watch it, puppet-face!" I snapped, not really realizing I was talking to a puppet, but I immediately wished I hadn't.

"_Natsu_!" Reine said in my ear. "_Her attraction levels for you hit rock bottom! I don't know what you said, but fix it! Now!_"

"I meant, person-face! Yeah, sorry, sometimes I say the weirdest things!"

The girl relaxed. "_Nice save, Natsu._" said a relieved Reine in my ear.

"You should not say such things to Yoshinon." the puppet cautioned. "Anyway, Yoshinon has been baffled by something. If Yoshinon remembers right, you offered your help to Yoshinon. Why?"

Finally, I was in my turf.

"Because I know what you are, and I want to save you!" I said solemnly. The hand puppet burst laighing.

"A human like you? Save Yoshinon? Yoshinon does not need the help of a human."

"What if I could prove it?" I said. "I'm strong, and I can protect you."

As I said that, I went into Chakra Mode, and made my arms look huge. Since I focused on using as much power as possible to show off, a purple gauntlet appeared over my oversized hand. A few seconds later, when I shrank back, the gauntlet changed sizes with my chakra arms, until I was wearing it with my actual hand. I would have to look into that later.

"See? I can protect you."

"Yes, you seem strong! Yoshinon misjudged you, so as a reward, Yoshinon will give you the privilege of protecting Yoshinon! What is your name, protector of Yoshinon?"

"Uzumaki Naruto, believe it!"

Then, a huge explosion shook the place. It was coming from a nearby wall. I knew that in Chakra Mode I could take it, but I moved Yoshinon with chakra arms to a safer spot. When the smoke cleared up, I could see a few AST members flying outside. Then, I felt as my chakra arms nearly froze. I looked over towards Yoshinon. Her hand was raised, but instead of there being a puppet, there was nothing.

"Y-Yoshinon?" the little girl asked, strangely flustered. Then, the temperature got so low in her immediate surroundings that I had to let go of her.

"_Yoshinon_!" she screamed. As that happened, hundreds of spiky icicles started surrounding her, but they were not pointed at her. They were pointed outwards. Unfortunately, I was "outwards" from Yoshinon's perspective.

I had barely any time to prepare for the blow. On instinct, I expanded my right arm so that it would cover me.

"_Clang! Clang! Clang!_" I heard, which sounded out of place, since I had expected the silence of ice cutting chakra and flesh. I noticed the gigantic gauntlet in my hand. It had saved my life, apparently, but I had still fallen on my back. Those things packed quite a punch.

But it wasn't over.

There was a second wave coming, and this time, the icicles from before were going berserk in all directions. It was a matter of time before one would hit me.

The following passed within the space of less than half a second. I saw icicles headed for me from six different directions. I knew I could only deflect/dodge four at best, so I prepared for a world of pain. Only that it never came. At the same time, the gauntlet on my chakra arm got lighter, as a figure appeared next to me, making a force field of sorts, which had stopped the icicles.

"_Nobody_ will force Naruto to break his promise to me!" said Tohka, while a fraction of her armor materialized over her.

She offered her hand, to help me up. We would be a team for now.

Which was a good thing, because in the next few seconds, she saved my life yet again, as a giant rabbit-like monster appeared. Tohka pushed me out of the way, and was about to take a blow from the rampaging rabbit, but I reacted in time and pulled her with me using my chakra arms.

"_That is her Angel, Natsu. Be careful, it is as powerful as Sandalphon_." said Reine through the communication device.

Curiously enough, on top of the Angel rabbit's head was a girl in the suit of a rabbit. The only thing missing was the rabbit-shaped puppet to go with it all.

That was it! The puppet! She was looking for her lost puppet!

"Tohka, look for a small puppet. It looks like an animal with big ears!" I shouted, thinking that Tohka wouldn't know what a rabbit was.

"There it is!" answered Tohka. I looked to where she was pointing, and was disappointed. It was the man with the black robes and silver mask. In his hand, was a small puppet.

Time stopped around me, and not in a "that one moment" way. It literally stopped. On top of that, I couldn't move.

"It appears that you are looking for this." he said. The familiarity of his voice ticked my memories, but I still had no idea who he was. "Don't worry, I will safe-keep it for, say, a day. Two at the most. Let's see if you can survive that long without it."

Another man appeared from behind the one I was talking to. He outfit was exactly the same as the one the other man was wearing, down to the mask. The only difference was that his robes were dark blue, rather than black.

"Are you sure?" the blue-clad figure asked. I knew that voice. He was the one who had appeared when Tohka did. He had told me the word that would become her name. "He will not survive the day if he doesn't give it back."

"Do not worry, I have seen what he can do. If anything the experience will make him stronger. We will need that, if we are to carry out our plans properly." said the man in black.

"Alright, but let me tell him something before we leave."

"As long as it is within what we have agreed, I do not see why not."

"It is." He then turned to me. "Her name is Yoshino."

_Yoshinro? _I thought. I wanted to ask but, unlike last time I had found myself in this situation, I was completely immobile.

They disappeared, and when they did time flowed regularly, and I found myself in my old situation: helping Tohka deflect massive quantities of needle-sharp icicles. On top of that, a hole had opened on the wall, and the AST was starting to shoot inside. Of course, they probably assumed that we were either Spirits or beings created by the Spirits (which in Tohka's case would be half true). There was only one thing I could try, since all other options would lead me to a quite probable death.

"Yoshino!" I screamed to the top of my lungs. She was visibly surprised.

"H-how do you know my name?" she asked, pointing all of the icicles in my direction, but hey, at least she had stopped them. The giant Angel rabbit, which had been about to break out of the building by making himself a humongous door (which would have let the AST's fire in BIG TIME), looked at me intently, as if it was deciding what seasoning would go best with me if I were to be cooked. Needless to say, that made me uncomfortable, to say the least.

"Because I am a friend. I seek you no harm. When we get out of this mess, follow the spirit energy inside Tohka, and we'll help you, okay?" I said. To be truthful, I had no idea if she could actually do that, but she nodded, which gave me confidence.

"Okay Tohka, let's go."

"But, won't Team Mecha come after you if they see you coming out of here?" asked Tohka. She was simple-minded, but when her time to shine came, she was bright as a star. Still, there was one thing she had not thought about.

"They can't catch what they can't even see." I said with full confidence. In the next second, I put Tohka in my arms like before, and made a chakra arm to keep the wind that would come from hitting her. In the five seconds after that, I ran full-speed, until I had reached my destination.

It was my house, inside of which was Kotori. Another issue I would have to deal with.

* * *

**And there you have it! Another chapter, just for you guys! I'm a little sleepy here (It's 2:22 where I'm at), so I'm gonna keep it short: Thanks again for all your reviews, I'm trying my best to read each and every one, but don't get me wrong, answering reviews and PMs is one of the most gratifying parts of writing this, at least for me, so if you have enjoyed the story so far, feel free to leave a review!**


	9. Vol 2: Chapter 9

**Heeey everybody! First of all, I'm so sorry it took me so effing long to update, I hope this will make you forgive me! Anyway, I have the newest chapter of The Spirit Rasengan, and so much has happened since the one before! I turned 18 last saturday, went on my first date on tuesday of the same week (and I'm already falling for the girl, would you believe that?), I've gotten into school, I've had to make a sketch of Issac Newton, I worked on my hopefully-soon-to-be-published novel Soul's Mirror, and all of that was great, but The Spirit Rasengan was grinding against the back of my head the whole time. I'm sorry this took so long, so in compesnation, I made it extra long. Well, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 9:

Just as I expected, Kotori was sitting in the couch, facing the door. For the first time in my life, I saw her with no ribbons on her hair. For some time, I had suspected that her peronality changed with them, so what did it mean if she didn't have them?

No little sister-like innocence. No commander security. For the first time ever, she was just Kotori.

I didn't say a word. I was afraid of what might happen. What if things got worse? I still couldn't come to terms with her, at least not about the whole polygamy thing.

"Why?" she asked. "I didn't wake you up on purpose, so you'd be late. Not having breakfast was a price I was willing to pay. So why did you go out of your way to bring me a _Deluxe Kid's Meal_?"

I smiled. This was going to be a lot easier than I thought. I neared her, and hugged her close.

"Because you're my cute little sister." I said.

She hugged me back. "Are you gonna help me?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that to Tohka, or to Origami. I will help you make them fall in love with the world, like I did today, but I can't go around with twenty girlfriends, that's just not right. Is that okay?"

Kotori got away from me. "I wish it were that simple." she said. There were tears in her eyes. She took a step back. Then another. Then, she ran to her room.

Whatever just happened?

I followed her.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I-It's nothing!" she said as she walked into her room. She shut the door behind her.

"Wait, Kotori! What do you mean it's not that simple? Kotori!"

There was silence for a second.

"Can someone explain what is going on?" Tohka finally asked. She had stayed so uncharacteristically quiet for so long, I had forgotten she was there.

"It's an argument we've been having." I answered.

"An argument?" she said, head tilted in confusion.

"It's something complicated, it's just that Kotori thinks I should do something, and I think I shouldn't."

"Well then, it's not so complicated!"

"Huh? It's not?" I asked.

"No. If it's like that, then you just have to do what's right!"

I stared at her. As always, she had a simple, unexpected brilliance to her.

"Still, I am gonna lose something, no matter what I do."

"Huh?"

"Tohka, the thing is that one choice will harm my relationship with Kotori, my sister, but the other will..."

I couldn't say it. I just couldn't.

"What is it?"

"It will have to be either losing Kotori's love, or yours."

There was silence. Tohka was utterly speechless.

"I told you. It's a hard choice."

"No it isn't." said Tohka regretfully. "The choice is simple. Kotori is your sister. I can't put myself over that. I love you, but if sacrificing my happiness for you means you can save your own, then I'll gladly do it."

"But... I... I can't! It's not that easy! I love you both!"

A tear rolled down Tohka's cheek. "I know. If you love me too, then you're probably hurting as much as I am. I will try to ease your path. I hope that if and when I return, I will find the problem fixed."

I could tell where she was going with this. I started to see energy forming around her.

"Wait! Tohka! Don't do it! You can't leave!"

On instinct and some previous analyzation, I went into Chakra Mode. As I feared, the gauntlet that had come up halfway through to my elbow now barely touched my wrist. I clenched my fingers into a tight fist, trying to prevent it from leaving, but it was no use. Tohka's tears were drawing the power of the gauntlet towards her. I knew by now that they were her own Spirit power, that had somehow transferred to me. I had only three fingers of the gauntlet left.

"Tohka, I beg of you, don't leave. Heck, you don't even know what the argument was about!"

"But I know that if I leave, your choice will be easier. That is enough."

"Wait! Tohka!" I screamed, as I tried to grab her, but I was too little too late. Except for the thumb, the entirety of the gauntlet had disappeared. Tohka was gone.

I fell to the ground. I could not bear it. I felt, for the first time since I had gotten here, true despair.

* * *

_I was somewhere rainy. I was standing in a hole, which apparently had been broken into a giant statue. I could tell I was a lot younger, by several years. In front of me, there was another statue, also gigantic. The name of the place flashed in my mind: The Final Valley. I didn't need to look at it to know that the other statue also had a hole in it, and I didn't need to think to know that my best friend was in it. He was conjuring black lightning around his hand. In turn, I was holding a small sphere of light in my hand, protected by red Nine-Tails chakra. I knew what was about to happen, and yet was unable to stop myself. In an instant, I found myself jumping, and the other kid did the same. I screamed his name, and he screamed mine. We clashed. At that moment, I met despair, true despair. It was not the first time I had felt it, but it was by far the worst._

_Despair._

* * *

I found myself in the boiler room that was my subconscious. I knew I had just had a vision, but I had never appeared here after one. Even so, it proved to be convenient. There were three doors, partially open. Two of them were closing rather slowly, but the other was apparently priority. It closed before I could think to open it completely. As that happened, I forgot my best friend's face.

I dived for one of the other two, opened it with all my strength, and immediately wished I hadn't. I remembered things, vividly, that I wished I didn't. People looking at me, with eyes full of hatred. The many times I had succumbed to Kurama's influence. Losing my best friend, swearing to get him back, time after time, only to fail. I still wanted to save him, even if I couldn't even remember his face, much less his name. I saw a purple haired girl falling from impossible heights, which she could not have survived. I heard news of a man's death, and thought of the white-haired man in some of my visions. Finally, I saw a new memory, of Tohka disappearing. A glowing sign appeared on the door.

It read _despair_.

I was very shaken, and sort of depressed, but I couldn't let the other door close, not if it meant losing another little part of me. I dove for it, even as it was three inches off the ground.

Two inches.

An inch.

* * *

"Come on, big brother! Wake up! You have to wake up!" I heard Kotori say in commander voice. I did not feel like moving. I did not feel like anything.

"A spacequake is forming!" She screamed. That got me up. No matter how depressed I was, I didn't want to die today.

"Who is it?" I asked. I was afraid it was Tohka.

"The Hermit, the one you called Yoshino."

I was relieved, but a question ticked my mind.

"How do you know-? Were you watching me from the Fraxinus?"

"Now's not the time for that! Reine, get us out of here!"

I was onboard the Fraxinus now. The filtration was off, so I could see what was going on beneath me, I saw the spacequake take shape, first like a purple tornado, which produced a spherical explosion the second it touched the ground. My home, fortunately, was not destroyed, but Kotori had been right. It had been too close for comfort. I saw the shape of a girl in a green bunny outfit. Yoshino.

"Kotori! Send me down!"

"Way ahead of you."

I saw the light warp around me, and I was in the Fraxinus no more.

* * *

I appeared, fortunately, in front of Yoshino. Had I appeared behind, I might've scared her. I mean, scared her _more_.

"Wha- what are you doing here?" she asked.

"I came to save you. But for now, let's get indoors _before_ the AST arrives."

"No." said Yoshino. "You promised you'd help me find Yoshinon. You promised." she said, as tears flowed down her cheeks.

She was crying harder and harder, and the harder she cried, the more her powers started to manifest as a torrent of ice around me. I had to turn Chakra Mode just to keep them off. Was all this really because of the loss of her puppet?

"Look, right now someone else has Yoshinon. He promised he'd give him to me in a few days. Can you wait that long Yoshino?"

"No, please... Nobody else can have him... Yoshinon is my precious friend. I... I need him."

"Look, I understand what losing a friend means..." I said, my face becoming heavy. "But that doesn't mean you can act irrationally until you get him back! Can you wait, just for a little bit?"

"I-I can't. Without him... I would have been a violent person. I would do things I'm scared to do. W-without him, I could start doing those things again, even I don't want to. I need Yoshinon." She paused for a second. "I _need_ him!" She cried. More icicles formed around her, and she summoned a medium sized bunny. Of course, by "medium sized", I mean, "as big as a horse". She got on the giant rodent, and started jumping around, getting away from me with every leap. Still in Chakra Mode, I followed, matching her speed.

"Yoshino! Trust me! I can find him! Just give me some time!"

Instead of answering, she cried to the top of her lungs, looking more scared than ever, and disappeared.

Just what my day needed.

I had to get Yoshinon, or else... but how? Who could help me? The masked men had gotten it (him?), but I had no way of reaching them. I didn't want to ask for the help of Ratatoskr, because I still felt awkward about the whole Kotori thing, so then who could I ask?

There was only one other person.

_Tobiichi Origami_.

* * *

I stood still in front of a door which I was waiting to be opened. Sure enough, Tobiichi Origami soon opened it, letting me in.

"Frankly, I was surprised to receive your call, Naruto. Of course, it was the right choice. A man should always seek help from his lover." she said.

"Okay, there are a few things I would like to clear up in that sentence, but first things first. There might be a way to stop Yoshino, the Spirit you call the Hermit, without endangering lives."

Origami stopped. "I would think that's impossible, but I will listen to what you have to say."

Exactly the best possible reaction I had thought possible of her. As long as I could talk, there was a chance I could convince her.

"Yoshino does not usually use her powers to harm others. Something's messing with her head, and I think know what it is. She lost something, if she finds it, she will stop attacking AST, and even then I might get her to stop causing spacequakes. If you help me find it, everybody will win. Cam I count with you?"

There was a pause. "I believe you." she said. I let out a relieved breath. "But I am not allowed to help you. Other than the fact that AST is forbidden from collaborating with spirits, the mission you propose is likely to be more dangerous than the Spirit itself, based on the fact that you are unable to do it alone. I know that you can multiply into many, which would make finding a lost object extremely easy. You are also very apt at fighting, and posses other abilities that... when combined with the element of surprise, were able to defeat me. And you look like you held back even then, based on your match with the Spirit, the Princess. Even at that point, you were not tired at all. I am sorry, but as an active officer of the AST, I can't authorize the mission you propose."

I was disappointed, because even though she was right, it hurt to know that she would leave me alone.

"Then again." she said, ending abruptly as she tended to do.

"Then again what?" I asked.

"Then again. The AST is currently on a day off. They went to a hot spring, but I did not. I wanted to train. Which means that today, I'm not on active duty. I am free to help you in whatever way I see fit."

As she said this, a suit started to materialize around her. By the time she was done talking, she was wearing an AST Realizer, the mechanical suit that made up most of an AST member's arsenal.

"Brief me in on the situation."

* * *

I was having a hard time deciding how much to tell her, since I wanted her to posess as complete an understanding of the situation as possible, but there were some things I could not reveal to her. I decided against telling her I didn't know who I was, and limited to tell her about the masked men, and that I could occasionally awaken more power within me. Then, I filled her in on the fact that Spirits could be convinced to stay on Earth, and that their powers could be removed, without mentioning Tohka. Finally, I mentioned that I had been trying to do just that with Yoshino, when the masked men came to take the puppet. Origami did not say a word until I was done.

"There are a lot of blanks in your story." she said finally. Damn, she was observant! "But I think this information is more than enough. If what you said is correct, the masked men might have been caught by our cameras during the battle with the Hermit. It is not probable, but the only available lead."

With that, she pressed a few buttons on her arm-armor, and a holographic screen appeared. While she worked, she asked me, "During our penultimate battle with the Princess, there was a version of her that disappeared in the exact same way your clones do. Does she have the same ability?"

"N-no!" I said. "I can change clones into other people." Origami had a very good memory, to be able to remember something like that.

"I see. So was our squad spy also you?" she asked. _Shit_. I had once disguised myself as one of them, and she not only remembered, she had made a connection between that and me.

"Yes." I admitted. Before I could explain myself, Origami showed me what was on her screen. They were the two men that had appeared. I have to admit that, up until now, I had been hoping that they had been a figment of my imagination, a manifestation of my past. But here they were, caught on camera, one of them with a puppet in his hands.

"Due to the fighting needs of Spirits such as the Nightmare, we record using femto-photography." Origami said. "That is to say, we record a hundred trillion frames per second." She pressed a button, and two other images split apart from the original. "Whoever these men are, they only appear in three of them. That is to say, they were only visible for the duration of three hundred-trillionths of a second."

I looked closely. Everything was exactly the same, except for their poses, and mine. In the first, one of them was picking Yoshinon up. In the next, they were speaking to me, and I had taken a step back. In the final one, the man in blue had taken a step forward, which meant that it was taken when he had told me Yoshino's real name.

"They can stop time." I said, horrified. Now I would never find them.

"That is not so." Origami said. "They can slow it down around them, but they can't stop it. If I authorize the use of the surveillance femto-cameras, we might be able to find them. Assuming they stay in the same place, we might be able to pinpoint them."

A full headgear materialized around her face, covering her eyes. She uttered a few words under her breath, and suddenly she looked like she was in overwhelming pain. Kotori had once explained to me that the AST's armor runs on magic, similarly to chakra, so overusing it must hurt. Countless pictures flashed on the screen. Then, footage of the masked men appeared. They were at a restaurant, which was a disturbingly normal place to be for someone so mysterious. The one in blue started to remove his helmet, but the one in black stopped him, and pointed to the camera. We had been discovered! They disappeared, and the camera automatically started showing almost infinite images again, making new windows whenever the masked men appeared. From what I knew of the city, they had gone to my home, and then to my school, and then started to register the city, home by home, but without going in. If any of them could use chakra, they wouldn't need to. And not a single second had passed since they had seen the camera. I moved my hands to make a transformation technique. Origami barely had time to pale her already fair skin when the screen froze. The masked men were at Origami's door.

"_Henge no-_!" I screamed.

"Save it." A man's voice said next to me. The masked men were here.

"Who are you?" asked Origami, which was the first time I saw true anger in her eyes. This surprised me, not only her anger, but the fact that she hadn't frozen along with time, which had been the case every other time. I picked up a stray pen and dropped it. It floated. Which meant that time had stopped. So why would they let Origami in?

"You did a fine job of finding us." the figure in black said. "We have not met for some time, Tobiichi Origami, or rather, you have not met my partner for some time. And you, Naruto, do you really want the puppet that badly? I expected more of you. After all that power you displayed at the last battle... I really can't believe that a puny Spirit would be tougher on you than the Ten-Tails and its Jinchuuriki. You will never fully get the power we need at this rate. You will need at least another two more Spirits, and as much power as you can get."

"Three," said the one in blue. "He lost most of Tohka's power, and remember, the fore Spirt Efreet's was never his to begin with. He will need either of them to be useful."

Origami flinched visibly at the name of Efreet.

"What do you know of Efreet!?" screamed Origami, completely out of character. The figure in blue looked at her.

"You do not need to worry about that Spirit, Origami. If you do, you will lose a lot more than you think. And if you ignore my advice and do it anyway, remember, the person hosting a Spirit is not necessarily the Sprit in itself."

Origami pressed a button in her arm, and two tiny missiles launched themselves from her shoulders. As I expected, they stopped a few inches after that.

"Do you really think you can beat us with that?" asked the man in black. "_Susano'o_."

As he said this word, which I somehow knew meant more than the character from the Japanese Creation myth, a hand of bone covered in pitch black fire materialized, and grabbed at the missiles. They exploded inside the hand, which further backed up my theory of them being able to control time around specific objects.

Origami was not one to give up. With relentless anger, she pulled two electrified rods from her suit, and started to attack, but the man in black simply grabbed her wrist, made his eyes visible, and sucked the rods into the sharingan.

"Wait! Origami!" I screamed. "We still need something from them. We will find out about this Efreet later. I get the feeling that we will meet these men again."

"So, you've wisened up, Naruto." said the man in black. "I would have thought the girl would have been the one holding you back, but I was obviously mistaken. If you really want this puppet, fine, I will give you those crutches, but don't complain to us when you can't walk."

With that, the man sucked himself and his partner into his eye, apparently. For me, it felt right somehow. Like it was not impossible. For Origami, not so much.

"W-what just happened?" she asked, in an extremely rare moment of total disorientation.

"I don't know either, but we can think about it later. There is something we need to do.

I turned to leave, but she stopped me, still in shock. It probably wouldn't last, but I was not enjoying it. "Wait. When the man in black uncovered his eye, I felt like I knew the other one, the one with the blue clothes. Like I had seen him somewhere before."

"That was the sharingan. It can hypnotize you, so that's probably it.

Origami, finally realizing how much she looked like a scared puppy, regained her composure at last.

"Yes. That is most likely the case." she said.

But, for once, she didn't sound convinced of what she said.

* * *

**So that was it for today's chapter! Once again, I'm sorry that I was unable to update sooner, or that I will not be able to update as fast, but I will try to update as often as I can. Anyway, if you want to know when that happens, make sure to follow!**

**Same as always, I want to thank every single great reviewer, every one of which I literally love.**

**Well, today we had a pretty long chapter, with the action, the sentimental moments, and the appearence of the fan-favorite masked men! And on the masked men, who could they be? If you can guess who they BOTH are (through PM) I'll feature you in next time's author notes, so there's also that!**

**P.S. For internet reasons I had to proofread this twice, so please tell me if I missed something the second time around.**

**Love you all,**

**vbarreiro**

**EDIT: I changed the color of the Susano'o, I realized someone else already had that one. Don't worry, it is someone we know, but as for the reason it has a new Susano'o color... stick around and find out!**

**Also, I tweaked some things here and there, and tweaked Yoshino's scene to keep her in character.**


	10. Vol 2: Chapter 10

**Hey everybody! Can you guess who had a little extra time to write? That's right! S'TarKan, writer of my favorite Naruto fanfic, Team 8! And I decided that if HE (she?) can find the time, then I can find the time! So, you get two chapters in very short succesion! And also, I want to thank everyone who has followed, favorited, and especially reviewed or PM me on my work. Seriously, when I get many simultaneous reviews and PMs, I actually wonder if you're giving me a late birthday present. Anyway, I wanted to announce who guessed the identities of the mysterious masked men. So far, the only one who has guessed the complete set is none other than... vbarreiro! Yeah, I'm sorry, but many of you got the man in black right. The one you're missing that hasn't been guessed once is the man in blue, but it's only natural, since he's the most unlikely character MUAHAHA! Anyway, I hope you enjoy today's chapter, which came at the great expense of a double Language and Literature period, but considering the fact that I was practicing my language by creating literature, I think all in all it evens out.**

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Chapter 10:

"I think I'm gonna go now." I said. Origami was still in some sort of trance. "Hey, don't worry about whatever you saw in his eye. He can make you see anything, and even make you believe it."

"Yes, I understand that, Naruto. You clarified it earlier." she answered unsteadily.

"Then why do you look like you saw someone important die?"

"No I don't."

"Yes, you do, and I have to do something about it, since you won't."

Before I could further pursue this, I heard the familiar noise of a spacequake alarm. This time, _she_ had been saved by the bell.

"I have to be somewhere." she said.

"So do I, but don't you think this talk is over!"

We both left at the same time, in opposite directions. She left for the side with the elevator, but with my chakra I didn't need one. As soon as I saw an open window, I leaped and landed softly on the ground. Then, I turned on Chakra Mode and, after a quick briefing by Kotori and Reine, I was after the spirit, jumping to a rooftop and using my momentum to keep going to the next one, and the next one, until I was rushing through the rooftops.

"There is something you should know." Kotori said while I ran.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The Spirits... the reason we make you date them, instead of simply showing them around, or even introducing them to someone else, is that you can seal their power within you."

"I knew it!" I screamed, probably looking stupid to a bystander. Then again, I was covered in whitish-yellow flames, running at impossible speeds. "Stupid" would have been the least of my worries. Besides, the place was evacuated, so there was no need to do worry about being seen anyway.

"But why are you making such a big deal about-"

"Naruto." someone said. I felt a rush of negative emotions behind me, and turned to face... Origami. Behind her, an AST squad flew. "We have gathered information that shows that you have been involved in the battles with the Princess and the Hermit. It is not clear if you are helping them, or if you are simply in the line of fire. Either way, the AST can't allow you to continue. You are to be restrained and interrogated."

I could not believe what was happening. I took a second to devise a plan. Origami was most likely on my side, and had probably been selected as a squad leader because of her closeness to me, or simply due to skill. The AST had no reason to know of my powers, so I decided to turn Chakra Mode off and pledge for ignorance. Despite what most people believed, I _could _think things through every so often.

"Hello! I am sorry, it's not what you think! I just have a lot of bad luck! Right now, for example, I got locked out here in my places's rooftop! I could really use some help getting down! Wouldn't want to be out during the spacequake! Yup, that's what happening!" I said, forcing the words out of my mouth. I was a terrible liar, but I hoped they would not know any better than that, and have no choice but to accept it as if it were the truth.

"Save it." said Origami. "You are no civilian. I have fought you personally, I know that better than many, and the way you fight is not new to me. You are a probable ally to the Spirits Princess and Hermit, and thusly, will be captured right here, right now. My squad has been briefed on your known skills, and is to react accordingly. Come with us now, and you will not have to suffer."

I had _not_ expected that.

"Origami? Why are you doing this? You are my precious friend, how can you do this? I thought I meant something to you! Is this because of the sharingan?"

Origami said nothing.

"Answer me!" I screamed.

Instead of obliging, Origami simply raised her hand, and brought it down. I didn't need to be a genius to figure out what that was. She was giving them permission to attack. It was a call for battle.

I had to react quickly. I turned on Chakra Mode, and performed a single hand sign.

"_Tajuu Kage Bunsin no Jutsu!_" I shouted. Suddenly, there was not one me, or a hundred. There was a thousand of me.

Most of Origami's squad was impressed by the sheer size of the army before them, but she herself was unfazed.

"Hanako, electric blasts. Everybody, equip shock shields."

This wasn't good. One of the girls flew higher than the rest, and produced a high-voltage electric field. Most of my clones, realizing the danger, covered me both with their bodies and chakra cloaks. When it was over, I only had about as many clones as there were AST members. A sound of a machine losing power was heard, which I assumed was the rod that had created all the electricity.

"Shizune, Nami, the iron shackles."

Instantly, several metallic spheres were shot from the the girls in question's back. They were apparently controllable, because when I tried to dodge one, it followed me until it latched itself to my hand, immobilizing it. I looked at my clones. Except for a few, who had been quick-witted enough to offer their chakra arms instead, all of them had one or the other hand inside an iron sphere, unable to move it. A few of of them had gotten both hands stuck, and they were now magnetized together. It was good it had not happened to many of us. It hit me why she did it. We were unable to put our hands together.

Unable to use hand seals.

I was stuck with the amount of clones I had right now, because I was the only one who could actually create the clones, at least with the amount of chakra I had given each.

"Origami, please, stop this. I don't want to fight you or the AST, but I will have to if you keep getting in my way."

"It would offend me if you didn't, but it would make my work a lot easier, so go ahead, or don't."

"You'll wish you didn't say that, Origami."

With my free hand, I made a sign. Not a hand seal, though. A command, which all of my clones understood. They all jumped forward, catching AST with chakra arms. It took a surprisingly small amount to get them all trapped. Save for Origami, that is.

"Take them elsewhere." I commanded, and my clones obeyed. "Now it's just you and me, Origami."

"Indeed it is, but this time, I will not go easy on you."

A familiar rush sped through my body. "Don't think you'll be winning, even so."

I jumped at her. My chakra arms were a blessing in the fight, but she her more-than-human agility and dexterity kept her from being hit too bad. In order to put some distance between us, she flew as high as she could, and from there, she started shooting different projectiles. Most were easy to dodge, but I had to work a little for some, like the guided missiles. I decided I needed to make a gamble to be able to win this. I used all the chakra my body could muster, and created two massive chakra arms. As fast I could, I tried to bring them together, leaving Origami in the middle. Unfortunately, she was ready for this, and instead of trying to dodge, which would have lead to me being able to capture her, she unleashed all of her heavy weaponry against the hands. Of course, she could not damage them, but she did push them back. I tried as hard as I could to bring them together, but it was no use. I was quickly running out of Nine-Tails Chakra.

Then, I had an idea. With only a trickle of the yellowish chakra left, I grabbed a missile, and brought it back to me. I used the rest of the chakra to protect myself. It worked. The fiery cloak protected me against harm, but not the metallic ball covering my hand. Before I knew it, I was free to use hand seals.

Origami ceased fire when Chakra Mode disappeared. It didn't matter. Her plan to make her overuse my powers had worked. She had quite possibly extrapolated the use of chakra from that of her magic, so it made sense that she would guess that.

I still wasn't done, but even if that was the case, I didn't want to fight Origami.

"Origami! Stop! I tried to reason with you, why won't you listen? Why did you help me before, if you were planning to do this?"

"You are one to talk. Did you think I would not notice all your trickery? You are not a student of my school. You have never been. At my apartment, I saw things. Things that I didn't remember. But I do now. Do you really think you can get away with this, Uzumaki Naruto, shinobi of the Hidden Leaf?"

Her words hit me like cold iron. She knew about me. About my past. Probably, more than I did.

"Those words. They seem... familiar. How do you know them?"

"I do not know either, but..." as she said this, she lost all trace of her sanity. "AHHHHH!"

**"Naruto"** I heard Kurama say. **"Feel closely inside that girl. What do you see?"**

I didn't see why, but I did as Kurama told me. What I saw surprised me.

_"She has the same bars inside her mind I do!"_ the inner me said.

**"Exactly. They are part of a special seal, with a lot of Chakra involved. Since she was exposed to the sharingan, there is a chance that her seal may have been corrupted by accident."**

_"But if that's true, you mean she already had a seal?"_

**"It is likely. Now, before she stops screaming and flying randomly, knock her out. I do not know what the purpose of this seal is, but it will obviously be problematic to us if it opens completely. That's why you have to leave her out cold. If you do that, I can force it closed."**

_"Wait, you know how to seal?_"

**"I was trapped in many seals over the years, I have learned how they work. I may not be able to make one, but it shouldn't be hard to make one stronger."**

_"Alright Kurama. I'll show her who's boss."_

**"Wait, Naruto,"** said Kurama, but my attention span was long gone by now, since I was pumping myself up for the battle to come. Origami, conveniently, had stopped flying. She had also stopped screaming, and looked ready for a fight.

I made the first move. I leaped and punched at where she was. She dodged, and threw a punch of her own. I blocked it, and sent a kick her way, which hit her, but in one of the metallic parts of her armor, so she wasn't hurt. I decided to try something different. I made two clones, and had them transform into shuriken, but I did it so fast, that it looked like I had simply pulled the shuriken from my uniform's pockets. I threw them both, and she dodged them gracefully. Then, I had one of my clones transform back to human form, grabbing the other shuriken in mid-air, and shooting at her blind spot. Just in time, she turned around to realize what was happening, and caught the second shuriken between her fingers. There was a drop of blood descending from her finger, but nothing more.

But the move wasn't done. The second clone un-transformed on top of Origami, and used his still-spinning momentum to send Origami into the air. We both knew what was to come. I used one of the clones for support, and jumped to where she was. I placed my foot in the right position for the final kick of the Uzumaki Barrage.

_"Shield!"_ cried Origami. A veil of light covered her, and when my kick came down, it simply bounced off. In the next half-second, I got another idea, and put it to work. I created a clone as fast as I could, and concentrated on something I had seen the last time I had opened a subconscious door. Three words popped in my mind.

_"Rotate"_

_"Empower"_

_"Contain."_

I was ready. In fact, it took so little time, that Origami had not even had time to remove her shield, which was alright with me.

_"Rasengan!"_ I screamed. I grabbed the ball of spinning chakra and slammed it against the shield of light. The first two seconds or so, the rasengan just grinded against the shield, sparks flying everywhere, but then, it finally shattered. Origami was sent flying downwards.

"_Rasengan Uzumaki Barrage!_" I shouted as I fell. Origami was hurt, but she would recover. Even better, she was unconscious.

**"Now, let my chakra flow to her,"** Kurama said. **"Let's see what we can do."**

I did as I was told, channeling Kurama's Chakra through me. That made me think, if he could do that, maybe he could pass his full chakra on to me? I was about to ask about it, I found myself in a strange reality.

**"We are here, boy. Welcome to your friend's subconscious."**

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**"Don't worry" you guys thought to yourselves. "There's no way vbarreiro will do another cliffhanger."  
**

**So yeah, I wanted to end in another cliffhanger. Since nobody guessed who BOTH of the masked men were, I wanted to hold a different kind of contest. What do you guys think Origami's subconscious looks like? PM me your ideas, and I'll choose my favorite, and use it inside the story. Also, you'll be mentioned in the author's notes, with your name Underlined and in_ Italics_, so yeah, big prize.  
**

**Anyway, I might be going for another while, but I'm getting used to schoolwork. Who knows, maybe I'll write again sooner rather than later?  
**

**And yeah, someone I showed this to told me Naruto would have mindlessly beaten Origami senseless, but remember, he doesn't remember half of what he's supposed to know, for example, he didn't remember the Rasenshuriken, or the Odama Rasengan, just the good ol' everyday Rasengan, so he's not _too _OP just yet.**

**Also, thanks for being so comprehensive on me deviating from the original story so much (this chapter being a prime example). It really means a lot not to get screamed at (at least not often), so thanks guys!**

**Anyhow, I love you all. **

**Peace out,  
vbarreiro**

**EDIT: Sorry to everyone who has been patiently waiting for a new chapter. I lost a hefty amount of work, including a _really_ long chapter I was making, and I have been trying to get them back since. I think I am close, so it should not be too long a wait now. And trust me, that chapter is amongst the best things I've ever written, so please hold on, if only a little bit longer! Oh, and also, I just edited every single chapter (proofreading, getting people back in character, making small things clearer/less confusing), so if you have the time, check it out!**


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